Eighth Circuit Won’t Rehear ACLU’s Case Against Four of Arkansas’ Pro-Life Laws

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Yesterday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by the ACLU for a hearing before the entire court regarding four pro-life laws the Arkansas Legislature passed in 2017.

The pro-life laws in question are:

  • Act 45 of 2017 prohibiting certain surgical abortion procedures that dismember a living unborn child.
  • Act 733 of 2017 prohibiting abortions performed due to the baby’s sex.
  • Act 1018 of 2017 requiring abortionists to report abortions performed on any girl under the age of 17 to the State Crime Lab in case the girl turns out to be the victim of sexual assault.
  • Act 603 of 2017 prohibiting biomedical and behavioral research on aborted fetal remains and requiring aborted fetal remains to be disposed of according to the Arkansas Final Disposition Rights Act of 2009.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker blocked the laws from going into effect in 2017, but a three-judge panel from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted her injunction last August.

In response, the ACLU appealed to the entire Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, but yesterday the court denied that request.

Now that the Eighth Circuit has denied the ACLU’s appeal, the laws could take effect later this month, but the ACLU has issued statements indicating that it will take further legal action against the four laws.

These are good laws that protect women from dangerous abortion practices and will save the lives of hundreds of unborn children every year. Even if the fight to defend these laws isn’t entirely over yet, the Eighth Circuit’s decision this week is a major victory.

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Come To The 43rd Annual March For Life On January 17 In Little Rock

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The 43rd Annual March for Life will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 17, 2021, in Little Rock.

The event is free and open to the public.

This is a peaceful and prayerful march that attracts thousands of pro-life Arkansans every single year.

The event is sponsored by Arkansas Right to Life, and it will mark the 48th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Staging for the march will begin at 1:30 p.m. between Battery and Wolfe Streets on West Capitol Avenue behind the Arkansas State Capitol.

At 2:00 p.m. Arkansas Right to Life President Andy Mayberry will lead the march along to the steps of the State Capitol for a brief program.

Learn more at ARTL.org.

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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Satanic Temple’s Pro-Abortion Appeal in Missouri

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The Satanic Temple briefly parked a statue of baphomet — a satanic figure — in front of the Arkansas State Capitol Building as part of a demonstration in August of 2018.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected a lawsuit from The Satanic Temple attacking pro-life laws in Missouri.

Live Action reports,

The announcement was released by the Supreme Court late last month, refusing to grant certiorari, meaning there weren’t enough justices on the Supreme Court who felt the case merited a review of previous court rulings. The Satanic Temple first filed a lawsuit attempting to overturn Missouri’s 72-hour waiting period law in 2018, which was dismissed by the Eighth Circuit Court. Another lawsuit was filed in 2019 on similar grounds, on behalf of an anonymous woman, “Judy Doe,” claiming the laws violated TST’s religious freedom. Doe and TST claimed Missouri’s laws were “forcing Plaintiff to act and forgo acting in a manner that violates her belief in The Satanic Tenets as a condition for getting an abortion in Missouri.”

The Satanic Temple has begun calling abortion a “religious rite” in recent years, seemingly in an attempt to skirt pro-life laws like the one in Missouri. The Temple’s abortion “ritual” consists of making affirmations in front of a mirror before and after the procedure.

In September The Satanic Temple sued Lamar Advertising after the media company rejected pro-abortion billboards that the group wanted to place near pregnancy resource centers in Arkansas and Indiana.

The billboards claimed The Satanic Temple’s “religious abortion ritual averts many state restrictions” on abortion.

So far The Satanic Temple has not been successful at convincing federal courts that abortion is a religious ritual. That bodes well for the lawsuit against Lamar over the billboards in Arkansas.

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