Attorneys challenging and defending three abortion laws passed in 2019 by Arkansas legislators are preparing to face off Sept. 23 in oral arguments, via videoconference, before a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
The laws being debated aren't currently being enforced, thanks to an injunction imposed Aug. 6, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock.
They are: Act 493, which prohibits abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy, in contravention to established federal law that permits abortions until the point of viability, which for years has allowed abortions in Arkansas to be performed through 21.6 weeks of pregnancy; Act 619, dubbed the "Reason Ban" by the plaintiffs, which prevents a doctor from performing an abortion "with the knowledge" that a woman is seeking it "solely on the basis" of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome; and Act 700, which requires doctors who perform abortions in Arkansas to be board-certified or board-eligible OB-GYNs.
