Arkansas lawmakers Tuesday set the state on track toward a near-total ban on abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its long-standing precedent upholding abortion rights.
The legislation, Senate Bill 149, is described as a "trigger" bill that would become enforceable only if the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. The House passed SB149 on Tuesday, sending the bill to the governor, who is expected to sign it.
The House vote was 72-20, mostly along party lines.
With Gov. Asa Hutchinson's signature, Arkansas would join North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi and Louisiana in enacting pre-emptive bans on abortion.
An end to legal abortions in Arkansas has long been within conservatives designs for the state. Abortion services are now limited to three facilities in Fayetteville and Little Rock, and the state's laws restricting abortion access have earned it the designation of the second-most anti-abortion state, according to Americans United for Life.
However, attempts by the Legislature to restrict access even further have drawn repeated scrutiny from the courts.
The last time the Legislature met in a regular session, in 2017, lawmakers passed a ban on the procedure used for almost all second-trimester abortions, as well as a series of other measures that abortion rights advocates said "could effectively end abortion" in Arkansas. Four of those laws, however, were blocked by a federal judge.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
The sponsor of SB149, Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, reacted to the bill's passage in the House with the prediction that two recently appointed conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court will soon pave the way for Arkansas and other states to ban abortions.
Rapert also speculated that the court is bound to get more conservative, saying "there's a very real possibility" that a member of the court's liberal wing, 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, could leave the court in "weeks or months." Ginsburg has not signaled an intent to retire.
"I believe the outcry is building greater than ever before in the 40-plus years of this issue," Rapert said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, one of the leading advocacy groups for abortion rights in Arkansas, panned the passage of SB149, calling the bill's lack of exemptions for rape or incest "heartless." The bill does include an exception if an abortion is needed to preserve the life of the mother in a medical emergency.
Rita Sklar, the president of the Arkansas ACLU, released a statement Thursday after the House vote. The ACLU has provided legal support in lawsuits seeking to block Arkansas' abortion laws.
"Criminalizing abortion will not make it more rare, just less safe," Sklar said.
The House debate over the legislation drew a series of emotional speeches as several lawmakers stood to share personal stories.
Rep. Megan Godfrey, D-Springdale, spoke from the well of her experience having a miscarriage in 2013 and said bills like SB149 are "dismissive of [women's] pain."
"I know the Bible verses, I know the emotions, I know more than many of you the intimate feeling of becoming a mother as soon as the pregnancy test turns pink," Godfrey said. "But I also know the stories of grief and loss. I know that this issue is personal and complicated."
The only Republican to vote against the bill, Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, said the bill went too far for his "pro-life" views. The representative shared the story of his niece, who he said had been told by doctors after an ultrasound that her fetus had not developed kidneys and a bladder, and would only survive "two or three days" if carried to term.
"Who are we to sit in judgment of these women making a decision between them and their physician and their God above?" Douglas said. "It is their right to do that and not ours."
Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, who carried SB149 in the House, told her own stories of working as a nurse at Arkansas Children's Hospital and watching "miracles" happen.
"Sometimes those babies will make it," Bentley said.
While Arkansas is seeking to curb abortion access in anticipation of a new Supreme Court precedent, other states -- including New York and Virginia -- have recently moved to enshrine abortion rights within their state laws.
Rapert said the action of liberal and conservative states shows that there is a consensus belief that the Supreme Court will change the nation's course on abortion.
Metro on 02/15/2019