A bill that would allow abortions in Arkansas in cases of sexual assault of a minor or incest failed to advance from a House panel Thursday.
The Committee on Judiciary declined to pass House Bill 1670 by Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock, in a voice vote with audible support from the panel's Democratic lawmakers. Under current law, the only exception to the state's abortion ban is to save the life of a mother in a medical emergency.
Following the meeting, Hudson said she did not plan to bring the bill back up for consideration during the session.
"Part of what I wanted to do with this is start bringing the discussion back to the real consequences of a full abortion ban," she said.
The bill would allow abortions when a pregnancy is the result of incest for which a report has been filed with a law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney's office. It also would permit abortions for cases of sexual assault of a minor.
When presenting her bill, Hudson said the physical effects of pregnancy on children are significant. Many times a child's pelvis is not large enough to birth a baby, which she said can lengthen labor and cause complications.
"Sometimes the baby dies, sometimes the mother dies," she said.
Hudson pointed to statistics showing Arkansas has high rates of maternal mortality and pregnancies among children. She cited the case of a 12-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by a family member and had to travel out of state over Christmas vacation to receive an abortion.
While Hudson said some lawmakers have indicated the current medical emergency exemption in state law would cover child pregnancy cases, she noted that a mother would have "to be on the brink of death" for the exemption to apply.
"All I'm asking with this bill is to allow families, parents to work with their trusted physicians and make decisions to try and protect their children," she said.
During the regular session, Hudson said lawmakers had spent "an awful lot of time" discussing protections for children and empowering parents.
"We've also spent an awful lot of time this session talking about what kids aren't ready to do," she said. "We talked about materials they're not ready to read, we talked about materials they're not ready to see, we talked about activities they are not ready to perform and yet we talk about making them parents."
Only one person testified on the bill. Toni Rose, with An American Speaks, opposed the measure, saying it was "violence answered with violence."
Rep. Cindy Crawford, R-Fort Smith, said she has worked with young mothers, many who were 12 years old.
"They did not die at having a baby," she said. "Would you not agree that two wrongs don't make a right?"
Hudson disagreed, saying it should be up to families, not lawmakers, to make that decision.
Crawford asked if a pregnant child could still travel out of Arkansas to receive an abortion. Hudson noted this option was only available to families with the means and time to seek abortion care in other states.