Life – Family Council

Arkansas Congressmen Sign Pro-Life Petition

Apr 19, 2021Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

Last week all four congressmen from Arkansas signed a petition to force a vote on pro-life H.R. 619, the federal Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

H.R. 619 is a federal measure currently in Congress. If passed, it would protect infants who survive a botched abortion.

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would ensure that a baby born alive after an abortion receives the same medical care as any other newborn.

The measure also would punish doctors who let an infant die or intentionally kill a newborn following an abortion.

Several states have enacted similar legislation — including Arkansas. H.R. 619 would protecting babies nationwide.

All four of Arkansas’ congressmen are co-sponsors on the measure.

H.R. 619 is tied up in committee, but last week some 202 members of Congress signed a petition asking for a floor vote on the bill in the full U.S. House of Representatives.

Planned Parenthood’s Arkansas PAC Shows No Activity, $15K+ in Funds

Apr 19, 2021Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes Arkansas — the abortion giant’s political action committee for Arkansas — recently filed its report for the first quarter of 2021.

The report indicates the PAC had virtually no activity from January through March of this year.

The report also shows that Planned Parenthood currently has $15,188 at its disposal to spend on electioneering in Arkansas.

State documents also indicate that Planned Parenthood has a lobbyist registered at the address for its abortion facility in Little Rock, but the lobbyist has reported no activity this year.

In 2020 Planned Parenthood endorsed and gave financial support to several candidates in Arkansas.

Four of the candidates Planned Parenthood endorsed — Rep. Denise Ennet (D – Little Rock), Rep. Tippi McCullough (D – Little Rock), Sen. Clarke Tucker (D – Little Rock), and Rep. David Whitaker (D – Fayetteville) — were elected to office.

Planned Parenthood also has been very active tracking and speaking out against pro-life legislation in Arkansas this year.

In spite of that opposition, the Arkansas Legislature has passed virtually every pro-life measure that has come before lawmakers. Arkansas is the most pro-life state in America. And public opinion polling shows Arkansans are overwhelmingly pro-life.

FDA Change Shows Arkansas Was Forward-Thinking On Pro-Life Laws

Apr 16, 2021Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

Earlier this week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would no longer require women to visit a doctor’s office in order to get the RU-486 chemical abortion drugs.

The change also lets abortionists deliver RU-486 to women by mail.

In the wake of COVID-19, doctor’s offices around the country shut their doors and moved to “telemedicine” only.

Abortionists in some states seized this as an opportunity to push abortion drugs. They offered abortion consultations and prescriptions over webcam or telephone. Planned Parenthood, in particular, ramped up promotion of its “telehealth” programs.

However, abortionists have not been able to prescribe abortion drugs over the phone or via webcam in Arkansas. That’s thanks to laws that pro-lifers have implemented over the past few years.

Since 2013, Arkansas Right to Life, Family Council, and others have worked with pro-life legislators to implement good laws that prevent abortion drugs from being approved via telemedicine.

Most recently, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 560 and Act 562 of 2021.

Act 560 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R – Springdale) and Sen. Scott Flippo (R – Mountain Home) outlines the informed-consent process for chemical abortion. Arkansas’ current informed-consent laws for abortion are geared primarily for surgical abortion procedures. Act 560 will help ensure women get all the facts about chemical abortion — including its risks, consequences, and pro-life alternatives.

This will help women choose options besides abortion.

Act 562 by Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning) updates Arkansas’ restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486. Among other things, it outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

This will help ensure that abortion-inducing drugs aren’t approved via telemedicine and mailed in Arkansas — even though the FDA is removing some of its restrictions on abortion drugs.

All of this underscores that Arkansas has been very forward-thinking when it comes to abortion. We’ve been able to pass good laws that anticipated things like telemed abortions changes in the FDA’s rules for RU-486.

That’s going to ensure that unborn children in Arkansas continue to be protected from abortion — even if members of the federal government try to make it easier to abort a child.