The Arkansas legislature has voted to approve a measure that would ban nearly all abortions, except those to save the life of the mother.
The lawmakers have now sent SB 6, the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection Act to Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who is pro-life, but, reportedly, has some reservations about the bill’s omissions of exceptions for rape and incest, and concerning if the measure would lead to a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court created a right to abortion.
“I’ve always historically signed every pro-life bill that’s come to my desk, this one has caused some pause because it is a direct challenge to Roe v Wade,” Hutchinson said, according to KATV News.
“It does not include a rape and incest as exceptions, but I want to look that over,” he added. “Look at the prospects of it and then make a decision, but that will be down the road as well.”
Students for Life of America Action worked on behalf of the legislation.
“Protecting life in law represents the common decency we owe to every human being,” said Kristan Hawkins, the group’s president, in a statement sent to Breitbart News. “We urge Governor Hutchinson to sign the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection Act so that the lives of pre-born children will be protected in law.”
KATV News reported a statement by Gloria Pedro of Planned Parenthood Great Plains:
It’s no surprise anti-abortion politicians continue to place politics over patient’s lives. We remain disappointed that elected “leaders” are choosing to waste time and taxpayer money with a bill that ignores scientific evidence. Anti-abortion politicians are once again proving they are more worried about playing a political game than they are about the health of Arkansans.
In February 2019, Hutchinson signed a bill into law that will make abortion automatically illegal in Arkansas should Roe v. Wade be reversed or the U.S. Constitution is amended to permit states to ban the procedure:
Arkansas is one of more than a dozen states that have introduced legislation that, through challenges by stakeholders in the abortion industry, could cause the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.
“This abortion ban is plainly unconstitutional and we stand ready to challenge it and any effort to block Arkansans from care or dictate their personal medical decisions,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas said in a statement about SB 6, according to Fox News. “We will be seeing the state of Arkansas in court again.”