“I am going to sign SB6 because of overwhelming legislative support and my long-standing, sincere pro-life convictions,” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said in a statement. “SB6 is in contradiction with the mandatory precedents of the United States Supreme Court, but it is the intention of the legislation to set the stage for the Supreme Court to overturn current jurisprudence.”
The abortion law is scheduled to go into effect 91 days after the end of the Arkansas legislative session, currently scheduled for May 3, according to Arkansas state senator Jason Rapert, who sponsored the Senate bill.
But the future of the law is not clear. Meagan Burrows, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, said the ACLU, the ACLU of Arkansas, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Great Plains intend to defy the law.
Of the 11 so-called gestational bans – which prevent abortion after a certain point in pregnancy – passed since the beginning of 2019, none came into force after most of them were blocked by the judges. This includes an almost total abortion-like ban passed in Alabama in 2019 and an 18-week bill approved by Arkansas in 2019.
“The Supreme Court has about 20 bills before them that they could accept if they wanted to,” said Gloria Pedro, regional manager of public policies and organizers for Arkansas and Oklahoma at Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, the group’s defense arm. “Therefore, drafting a bill equivalent to a letter of demand for SCOTUS is impractical and a waste of taxpayer money and time.”
Proponents of the project see the move as a key position on the issue that reflects the views of those in their state, welcoming the chance to spur a legal dispute that could reverse Roe.
“We hope it will be contested,” said Rapert, adding that he is hopeful that the project’s principles will compel the court to respond to “a very broad and widespread public outcry over the issue”.
Rapert denounced rape and incest, but maintained the lack of exceptions from the law for both crimes, saying: “How could we look at any human baby and say that they are not worthy of life simply because their birth was the result of a violent act . ”
Ali Taylor – co-founder and president of the Arkansas Abortion Support Network, which organized opposition to the bill – emphasized the importance of existing restrictions. In conjunction with the existence of “only two clinics in the state, the economic devastation of COVID” and other logistical barriers, Taylor said, “it is already difficult for people to access abortion in Arkansas”.
Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, characterized the project as the next step forward for the state.
“We have been trying to save as many babies as we can by passing the laws we pass,” said Mimms. “We want to save them all and ban abortion, ban abortion, abolish abortion in Arkansas – the time has come. Let’s just do this. We are going to save all the babies ”.
“Other states have tried this before, but we will continue to try,” she said.
This story has been updated with additional information.