House lawmakers on Monday gave quick approval to a proposal to limit abortions to within an 18-week window during pregnancy, a standard that if enacted is likely to test the limits of what courts will allow.
Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs, described her House Bill 1439 in simple terms to colleagues on Monday: "We're shaving it off; we're pulling [abortion access] back two weeks."
However, the text of Lundstrum's proposal goes further than what the lawmaker described. It would change the state's calculations for gestation and potentially narrow the window for abortions by four weeks.
Arkansas is one of 19 states that has successfully enacted bans on abortion past 20 weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that supports abortion rights. Two more states, Mississippi and North Carolina, restrict abortion after 18 weeks post-fertilization.
Lundstrum's bill, however, would set a ban on abortions after 18 weeks since a woman's last period, or up to around 16 weeks post-fertilization. No state actively limits abortions to so short a window, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
An attempt to ban abortions after 15 weeks was struck down by a federal judge in Mississippi in November. A similar 15-week ban passed in Louisiana's Legislature but won't be enforced unless a federal court allows the Mississippi ban to take effect.
Immediately after the Arkansas House voted 77-13 in favor of HB1439, Rita Sklar, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, vowed to take the state to court if the bill becomes law.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
No one debated the bill's merits on the House floor. The 13 votes against the proposal all came from Democrats. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Outside the House chamber on Monday, Lundstrum defended her bill, saying, "At four and a half months, you pretty much know what you're going to do."
Lundstrum said she had no idea whether her legislation would lead to a lawsuit if it became law, or whether a court would uphold such a law.
A spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday said the Republican governor was still reviewing HB1439.
The ACLU and abortion providers in the state have successfully challenged other anti-abortion laws passed by Arkansas lawmakers, including a 12-week abortion ban passed in 2013. Prohibitions on select abortion procedures passed in 2015 and in 2017 have also been struck down by the courts.
Under the prevailing precedent of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court has said the viability of a fetus generally begins at 28 weeks but may occur as early as 24 weeks. The most premature baby known to have survived was born at 21 weeks, four days, according to the journal Pediatrics.
"It's still pre-viability," said Bettina Brownstein, an attorney working with the ACLU of Arkansas, who said the legislation was likely to be struck down if it became law. "It's clearly contrary to Roe v. Wade."
Arkansas lawmakers, however, have signaled their belief that the nearly 50-year precedent established by Roe is likely to be overturned now that President Donald Trump has appointed two conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, potentially shifting the balance on the court slightly to the right.
Earlier this month, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 149, a "trigger" bill that would ban almost all abortions starting from conception in the event that Roe is overturned. Hutchinson signed the bill, which is now Act 180 of 2019. According to The Associated Press, similar bills have been passed in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota. Oklahoma is considering it.
Like Act 180, Lundstrum's proposed 18-week abortion ban provides exceptions for when abortion is necessary to protect the life of the mother. Neither provides exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
According to Arkansas Department of Health statistics, most abortions performed at the state's three operating abortion clinics are done before 16-18 weeks of pregnancy.
Of the 3,249 abortions the Health Department recorded in 2017, only 173 were performed at 16 weeks or later. That number dropped to 75 after 18 weeks.
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A Section on 02/26/2019