A crowd of young and old gathered at the steps of the state Capitol on Sunday to rally for the rights of the unborn at the 41st annual March for Life.
Hundreds spent the cool afternoon holding signs and listening to a panel of speakers remember the unborn children who attendees say have been killed by legal abortions.
The rally, and others like it across the country, marked the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. On Jan. 22, 1973, the court affirmed the constitutional right to abortion.
Officials with Arkansas Right to Life, which organized the Little Rock event, defined the past few years as a success for their cause, but they encouraged others to continue the fight against abortion.
"The abortion rate is declining in our state and across America, but we can't stop our work," said Andy Mayberry, the president of the organization.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, U.S. Rep. French Hill, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and several other government officials attended the event.
"Yesterday in Washington, D.C., our vice president, Mike Pence, made an appearance at the March for Life and simply stated 'We are the Pences, and we are pro-life,'" Hutchinson said to the the cheering crowd. "Well I am here to say, we are the Hutchinsons, and we are pro-life."
The speakers focused on keeping the anti-abortion fires lit despite abortion opponents' recent success in the state.
"We are the No. 2 most pro-life state in the nation, but more work must be done to protect life in Arkansas and America," Hutchinson said.
The rally coincides with the 92nd General Assembly's regular legislative session, which started last week. Abortion opponents and legislators have said they want to pass laws that restrict access to abortion in the state. Sen. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, recently said he's "ready to end abortion altogether," through legislation that would challenge Roe v. Wade.
At the national level, Cotton and U.S. Sen. John Boozman, both Republicans, reintroduced legislation that would ban abortions at 20 weeks of gestation.
"What is more fundamental than changing law is changing hearts and minds," Cotton said on Sunday. "Through 40 years of work you have been changing hearts and minds and creating a culture of life in this country."
Courtney Beck, a woman who obtained an abortion at the age of 16, stood before the crowd and described the regret she felt for years because of her decision.
"The baby wasn't the mistake," Beck said. "The mistake was being a sexually active child who had a secret abortion. I thought I was fixing things, but I found myself being undone."
A day before the March for Life, a crowd of people gathered inside the state Capitol for the state's ninth annual Rally for Reproductive Justice.
The Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice defines "reproductive justice" as the right to choose whether and when to have children, and the right to parent those children in safe, healthy environments.
"I don't like being treated as the direct opposition because we do so much more than fight for abortion rights," said Camille Richoux, the rally chairman. "We are a place for survivors of sexual assault, immigration fighters, and [we] fight for reproductive health services. Of course it's hard to avoid the comparisons."
Even though the coalition is willing to work with others, its foundational stance will not waver, Richoux said.
"We are still strongly firm that abortion is a legal right for women," Richoux said.
The March for Life rally also focused on committing to an educational campaign on Abortion Pill Rescue, a program that offers reversal treatment for women who choose medication-induced abortion and then change their mind before taking both of the drugs required to complete the abortion.
The group also talked about combating what they described as a pro-abortion narrative in the media.
"If a woman became pregnant with a puppy or a kitten, abortion would already be illegal," Beck said.
State Desk on 01/21/2019