Arkansas AG rejects second proposed amendment to make abortion a constitutional right

KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

A proposed constitutional amendment proposing a limited right to abortion in Arkansas needs further revisions before it can appear on the 2024 statewide ballot, Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote in a Thursday opinion.

Griffin rejected a previous version of the proposed amendment in November. The initial proposal said state government entities would not be allowed to “prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict” Arkansans’ access to abortion “within 18 weeks of conception.”

Both rejected proposals would have permitted abortion services in cases of rape, incest, a “fatal fetal anomaly” or to protect a pregnant person’s life or health.

Arkansas AG rejects second proposed amendment to make abortion a constitutional right

John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.

Commission recommends design for ‘monument to the unborn’ at Arkansas Capitol

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

Courtesy Photo

One of two proposals submitted by artist Nilda Comas.

From the Arkansas Advocate:

A panel on Tuesday voted to recommend a living wall of flora and fauna be constructed on the Arkansas Capitol grounds as a “monument to the unborn” in accordance with a new state law.

Approved by the Legislature in March, Act 310 authorizes the secretary of state to decide where to place “a suitable monument commemorating unborn children aborted during the era of Roe v. Wade.”

Courtesy Photo

One of two proposals submitted by artist Nilda Comas.

Abortion has been illegal in Arkansas, except to save the life of the mother, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin in November rejected ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment intended to ensure a limited right to abortion in the state.

Commission recommends design for ‘monument to the unborn’ at Arkansas Capitol

Michael Hibblen/Little Rock Public Radio

A "monument to the unborn" was approved by Arkansas lawmakers this week.

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.

New Abortion Law in Texas Impacts Clinics in Arkansas

By MATTHEW MOORE

SB8, a new law in Texas that has made abortion effectively illegal after 6 weeks of pregnancy, means women are traveling out of state to get access to services. One clinic in Little Rock is already seeing Texans travel from nearly seven hours away.

https://www.kuaf.com/post/new-abortion-law-texas-impacts-clinics-arkansas

Texas Capitol Building

CLARK VAN DER BEKEN / UNSPLASH