Arkansas legislators file two bills related to abortion during Spring Break

KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas legislators filed two bills Wednesday morning pertaining to abortion, which is all but illegal in the state.

Arkansas has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans, Act 180 of 2019, with the sole exception “to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.” The act went into effect in June 2022, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and left abortion access up to individual states.

House Bill 1684, filed by Rep. Denise Garner (D-Fayetteville), would add the health of the mother as an additional exception to Act 180, broadening the definition of a “medical emergency.” The bill was filed a day after Oklahoma’s Supreme Court loosened that state’s near-total abortion ban by allowing exceptions for the health of the mother.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-03-23/arkansas-legislators-file-two-bills-related-to-abortion-during-spring-break

Charlie Neibergall/AP

Bottles of the abortion-inducing drug RU-486, which is used to medically induce abortions in a two-step process. Women take mifepristone (left), and days later, they take misoprostol.

Farm bills seek to steer younger Arkansans into agriculture

by Ronak Patel (rspatel.personal@gmail.com)

Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, and Rep. Denise Garner, D-Fayetteville, have introduced a bill aimed at addressing the challenges young farmers face entering the profession.

According to House Bill 1003, an income tax credit would be available for farmers who sell or rent agricultural assets to a beginning farmer. Agricultural assets include land, livestock, facilities, buildings and machinery.

In an interview, Mayberry said the bill was sponsored in the previous legislative session by former Rep. Joe Jett, R-Success, but failed to make it out of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/03/farm-bills-seek-to-steer-younger-arkansans-into-agriculture/