Family Council Celebrates Arkansas Being Named Number One in America on Religious Liberty

Religious Freedom, Rights of Conscience, , ,
Above: Sen. Stubblefield and Rep. Lundstrum present religious freedom measure H.B. 1615 in committee. The bill passed at the Arkansas Legislature, and Gov. Sanders signed it into law as Act 677 of 2025. Act 677 is one of the many good laws that has helped make Arkansas a leader when it comes to protecting religious liberty.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Little Rock, Ark. – On Tuesday, First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy announced Arkansas is leading the nation in its Religious Liberty in the States index.

In a statement, Family Council President Jerry Cox said, “This is something Arkansans can celebrate. First Liberty is one of our country’s leading supporters of religious freedom. Their index looks at laws and protections for religious liberty in all 50 states. If they say Arkansas is leading the nation, you can believe it.”

Cox said making Arkansas number-one on religious liberty took years of hard work. “This was a team effort. Arkansas’ lawmakers spent a lot of years sponsoring legislation and working hard to get those religious freedom protections in place. In 2015, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed Arkansas’ first Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. It’s a good law that keeps the government from burdening the free exercise of religion. In 2023, Governor Sanders signed an even better law that strengthened the 2015 measure. Since 2021, the Arkansas Legislature has passed laws protecting healthcare workers’ rights of conscience, affirming religious freedom at school, and protecting people of faith from being penalized for living out their convictions. A lot of people deserve credit for making Arkansas into a leader on religious liberty. Family Council has been happy to support those good efforts.”

Cox said the free exercise of religion is a fundamental right. “Religious liberty is not just the right to believe in something. It’s the right to live according to your faith. This number-one ranking shows Arkansas has some of the best laws in the nation when it comes to protecting religious liberty.”

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Governor Signs Medical Conscience Protection Law

Rights of Conscience,

On Monday, Gov. Sanders signed a law protecting medical rights of conscience in the state.

Four years ago, Arkansas passed Act 462 of 2021 — the Medical Ethics and Diversity (MED) Act — to uphold healthcare workers’ rights of conscience.

Before that law passed, Arkansas’ conscience protections were narrowly focused on abortion and end of life decisions, and they protected very few people.

Act 462 changed that. It helped broaden those protections and apply them to all healthcare workers.

S.B. 444 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Lee Johnson (R — Greenwood) strengthens the healthcare workers’ rights of conscience law Arkansas passed in 2021.

Among other things, this good law adds whistleblower protections for healthcare workers, and it helps protect all medical professionals from having their rights of conscience violated.

With the governor’s signature, S.B. 444 is now Act 970 of 2025.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Greg Chafuen issued a statement about the signing of S.B. 444, saying,

“Protecting free speech rights and whistleblower protections for health care professionals is good for doctors, good for patients, and good for medicine. Patients receive the best care when doctors can speak freely and express their opinion about harmful procedures without fear of government punishment. There is a disturbing trend in our country where health care professionals like Dr. Allan Josephson and Dr. Eithan Haim are being fired or raided by armed federal agents just for raising concerns about harmful practices and advocating for medical practices that are based in biology and common sense. We thank Sen. Kim Hammer and the Arkansas legislature for their efforts to bolster protections for medical experts and Gov. Sanders for signing this critical amendment to the state MED Act. We also thank Arkansas Family Council for its unwavering commitment to protecting medical rights of conscience for health care professionals.”

Act 970 will help further enhance the conscience protections Arkansas enacted four years ago. We want to thank Sen. Hammer and Rep. Johnson for sponsoring this good law, and we want to recognize the General Assembly for passing it and Gov. Sanders for signing it. It is important for our state to protect healthcare workers’ rights of conscience. Act 970 is a good law that will do exactly that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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House Committee Passes Medical Conscience Protection Law

Bioethics, Legislation, ,

On Tuesday, the House Public Health Committee passed a conscience protection measure.

S.B. 444 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Lee Johnson (R — Greenwood) strengthens the healthcare workers’ rights of conscience law Arkansas passed in 2021. Among other things, this good bill adds whistleblower protections for healthcare workers, and it helps protect all medical professionals from having their rights of conscience violated.

In 2021, Arkansas passed Act 462 protecting healthcare workers’ rights of conscience.

Before that law passed, Arkansas’ conscience protections were narrowly focused on abortion and end of life decisions, and they protected very few people. Act 462 helped broaden those protections and apply them to all healthcare workers.

S.B. 444 will help enhance the conscience protections Arkansas enacted four years ago. It now goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for a vote.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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