The proposed “Arkansas Abortion Amendment” would allow abortions up to 18 weeks — about four-and-a-half months — after fertilization and in a variety of other cases after that mark, including when the unborn child is diagnosed with a “fatal fetal anomaly” or “to protect a pregnant female from a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury.”
The amendment also would allow abortion in cases of rape or incest.
Arkansas currently allows abortion only if a mother’s life is at risk. The state health department recently reported that there were no abortions in Arkansas in 2023. The pro-life law firm Americans United for Life, based in Washington, D.C., has listed Arkansas as “the most pro-life state in America” for the past four years.
The proposed abortion amendment would declare “null and void” any laws that are in conflict with it, including parental consent and informed consent requirements.
Critics of the amendment describe it as “extreme” and “unsafe” because it forbids the government from restricting abortion in any way well into the second trimester.
The Arkansas-based pro-life group Family Council called the amendment “more extreme than Roe v. Wade” in a Friday press release, noting that it “would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy” if passed.