Pro-Life Measures Clear Key Hurdles

Today, the Arkansas Legislature perhaps saw the most significant advancement of pro-life legislation in our state’s history.  Two pro-life measures cleared a House Committee that was the primary road block in the previous session, while at the same time an even stronger pro-life measure easily passed on the Senate floor with broad support.

Two years ago, Rep. Andy Mayberry ran a bill in committee that would have banned abortion after the point at which unborn babies experience pain (20 weeks), but came up two votes short on a roll call vote.  This year, an almost identical measure – HB1037 – passed on a clear voice vote without a roll call even requested.

“The difference is in the make-up of the committee. The bill didn’t change. This is the exactly same bill that we ran two years ago,” said Mayberry after the meeting.

The House panel also advanced a bill – HB1100 – that had failed to pass on a roll call vote only two days earlier. Rep. Butch Wilkins – a pro-life Democrat – brought the measure which would opt Arkansas out of coverage of abortions in the new health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.  This time, the measure easily passed on a voice vote as several members who supported the bill but were absent on Tuesday were present today.

Just minutes after these measures were advanced in the House, the Senate overwhelming advanced SB134 – a measure introduced by Sen. Jason Rapert that would ban abortion after the point when a heartbeat can be detected, which is around the 6th to 8th week of pregnancy.  The measure pushes back even further Rep. Mayberry’s pain-capable bill, which puts the ban around 20 weeks.

Both the Pain Capable Bill and the Heartbeat Bill are attempts to advance pro-life legislation fashioned after the viability standard that the Supreme Court has discussed in Roe v. Wade and in subsequent decisions including Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

In the 1992 Casey decision, the Court upheld “a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion before fetal viability and to obtain it without undue interference from the State” while at the same time upholding state legislation restricting abortion at the point of viability. It also held “the principle that the State has legitimate interests from the outset of the pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the fetus that may become a child.”

It is within this viability framework that both bills seek to restrict abortions.  Abortion rights groups – particularly the ACLU – have stated that they will challenge both laws, which they no doubt will, and this legislation – passed in Arkansas as well as other states – will again cause the Court to re-examine when this viability standard exists.

It is therefore significant that the Heartbeat Bill – the more restrictive of the two not only passed the Senate, but did so by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 26 out 35 Senators – almost three-fourths of the chamber.

It should be noted here that both measures were advanced with the support of pro-life Democrats. Five senators joined the twenty-one Republicans in the senate chamber in voting for the Heartbeat Bill.  And in the House Committee, it was clear that many Democrats voted in the voice vote for both bills as well.

Although the fate of neither bill is final yet, it is a very great day for those who desire to see the advancement of legislation in Arkansas that will protect life.