LITTLE ROCK — Reacting to new abortion restrictions approved by Arkansas lawmakers this session, about 500 people protested Saturday on the steps of the state Capitol.
This legislative session, Arkansas lawmakers have passed some of the most-restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Attendee Sarah Ferrell, 46, of Little Rock said the bills shocked her.
“People didn’t know, didn’t realize we were under attack like that,” Ferrell said. “We’ve been asleep and now we’re waking up.”
Act 301 of 2013 sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, bans most abortions after 12 weeks of gestation, which is calculated from the last day of the woman’s last menstrual cycle. While the bill became law immediately, it doesn’t go into effect until 90 days after the session.
Act 171 of 2013 sponsored by Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It includes no exception for when the fetus has little chance of surviving outside the womb. It went into effect immediately.
Rapert said by telephone after the rally that Arkansas is an anti-abortion state.
“While I respect there are other opinions, the majority of the people in this state want to protect life,” Rapert said.
In November, Republicans secured a majority of legislative seats for the first time in 138 years.
The House co-sponsor of the 12-week ban, Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, said by telephone Saturday that legislators feel like they voted how their constituents wanted them to.
“Action often invigorates the other side. Pro-life folks feel like they have really not been heard for decades and now they are being heard,” she said. “I don’t think by and large people voted against what they felt their constituents wanted and believed.”
The Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has pledged to challenge the laws in federal court, saying they violate the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and subsequent cases that found that states cannot ban abortion before the fetus is viable. Arkansas code had defined viability as 25 weeks into the pregnancy and banned most abortions at that point.
Some supporters of the laws have said they want to challenge the court’s 40-year-old interpretation of when life begins. Groups like Arkansas Right to Life have taken a more incremental approach and supported Mayberry’s 20-week ban. Other groups like nonprofit, anti-abortion legal group, Liberty Counsel, have said they want to strike a new balance between the rights of the mother and the rights of the fetus.
Organizer Jamie Goswick, 35, of Mountainburg said she didn’t expect the bills to pass.
“It really kind of took me by surprise honestly. I thought “there’s no way that’s going to pass, no way,” but it did,” Goswick said. “We waited until it was too late and I regret that but we’ve got to move forward now.”
Goswick said she hoped attendees register to vote and are ready to vote out legislators in 2014 who backed the bills.
“This is not going away and this is not the end. This is going to get bigger and bigger. So, be ready,” she said.
Goswick organized Saturday’s event on Facebook two weeks ago, when the Legislature overrode Gov. Mike Beebe’s vetoes and the bills became law.
“I’m tired of it and I see where this is going and I’m not going to stand for it,” she said.
By Saturday morning more than 1,500 people had signed up to attend.
“It was a huge surprise,” Goswick said. “I don’t even know most of the people that are here, but I’m loving it.”
Marti McKown, 68, of Hot Springs, said she protested over abortion rights in the 1970s.
“I thought I was through fighting this stuff,” she said. “This isn’t about abortion. It’s about the right to make a choice, that’s all it’s about and legislators have no right to take that from me.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 03/24/2013