LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) – Arkansas lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation banning almost all abortions, and sent the bill to a Republican governor who has expressed reservations about the measure.
The majority Republican House voted 75-18 for the bill, which bans all abortions except those to save the mother’s life in the event of a medical emergency. The bill, which was passed by the Senate last month, it does not include exceptions for rape or incest.
Arkansas is one of at least 14 states where abortion bans have been proposed this year, an effort by conservative Republicans to force the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its Roe Vs. Wade of 1973 who legalized the procedure nationwide.
“It’s time for that decision to be overturned in the Supreme Court,” Republican Rep. Mary Bentley, a sponsor of the measure, told House members.
Last month the governor of South Carolina signed another abortion ban, but it was quickly blocked by a federal judge due to a Planned Parenthood legal challenge. Alabama enacted an almost total ban on abortions in 2019 that has been blocked due to legal challenges.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has passed several major restrictions on abortion since taking office in 2015, stopped saying she would sign this bill and told reporters she would make a decision next week. .
“It’s pro-life legislation and I support pro-life legislation,” Hutchinson said shortly before the House vote. The governor has five days, not counting Sundays, after he is handed the bill to act before it becomes law without his signature.
The governor said earlier that he is concerned about the ban not including rape and incest exceptions, and the direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade. A National Right to Life attorney told Hutchinson in a letter that the chances of the legislation leading to Roe vs. Wade were “very small and remote.”
National Right to Life has not taken a position on the bill, although its state subsidiary and other anti-abortion groups in Arkansas have supported the measure.
Democrats called the measure extreme and said that a total ban if enacted would lead women to take dangerous measures to end their pregnancies.
“We should not make women in this state collateral damage simply to advance a political cause,” said Democratic Rep. Ashley Hudson.
Arkansas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country and two years ago Hutchinson signed a law that would lead to a ban on abortion if the Roe decision were overturned. Another law Hutchinson signed in 2019 banning abortion during a woman’s 18-week pregnancy is pending due to a lawsuit.
Abortion advocacy groups have said they are prepared to challenge it directly if approved. Planned Parenthood called the bill “the equivalent of a letter of demand” to the Supreme Court.
“This ban on abortion is clearly unconstitutional and we are willing to challenge it and any effort to block Arkansans from care or dictate their personal medical decisions,” the Arkansas American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. . “We will see the state of Arkansas in court again.”