Arkansas

According to IBIS Reproductive Health, Arkansas has thirteen restrictive policies and nine supportive health policies. With is in mind, it only makes sense that the women’s health measures in Arkansas is rated a zero out of twelve While Arkansas is not the only state that has a zero, Nevada being the only other one, they offer a little bit more leniency on how much time they given women because they consider their abortions illegal.

The Republican Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, signed a law that banned abortions after 18 weeks unless there are special circumstances. Abortions may only take place following the 18 weeks if there was rape, incest or any medical emergencies that occur after this period. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette discusses how the American Civil Liberties Union, The ACLU, plans to sue the state of Arkansas. Rita Sklar, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas said that abortion is an “important medical decisions should be made by women and their doctors — not dictated by politicians or government bureaucrats. We’ve successfully challenged these kinds of unconstitutional abortion bans before — and we’re fully prepared to do so again.” Arkansas is the third state to restrict abortion 18 weeks post-fertilization, joining Mississippi and North Carolina and it is one of 19 states that have enacted bans on abortion past 20 weeks.

A specific law that sets Arkansas apart from other states is that they will not allow abortions if the fetus is diagnosed with fetal down syndrome. In addition, the state does not provide funding for inmates who want abortions. Arkansas also differs in that the women must wait three days, which was previously two, preceding the clinical appointment before proceeding with an abortion.

A BuzzFeed news article reported about a case where a women received an abortion at 21 weeks. It must be noted that this woman was likely one of the last women who was able to get an abortion this late before the new law an enacted. This 25-year-old women had been trying to get an abortion since she was 6 weeks pregnant and continued for a total of five months before she almost missed the cut off for legal abortions in the state of Arkansas. She was unable to get an abortion sooner as she was financially unstable, and an abortion is a costly expense. The women talked about how she had previously tried four to five times to go through with this abortion and how all the attempts have been unsuccessful. She took it upon herself to find a side job but was quickly unable to dedicate the time needed as she fell severely ill. She was unable to call 911 as she could not afford the bill that would come later. To her surprise, she discovered that an abortion this late would cost her around $2,000. She did not have the money to pay for it and was unable to ask her family for money as at that time they were dealing with a death in the family and had to make arrangements for the funeral. The woman was finally able to find a facility that was able to make arrangements for her including a driver. The center she went to was called Little Rock Family Planning Services. Little Rock Family Planning Services provide abortion access to a wide geographical area including states outside of Arkansas. They are currently the only licensed facility in Arkansas that may perform abortions up to 21 weeks. This facility is able to fully cover all of the medical bills involved with an abortion. After finishing her procedure, the women felt nothing but happiness. This reaction may not be what one may think of first upon hearing that someone had an abortion but the thought of having a child that she was unable to properly and fully care for sounded worst that an abortion. She talked about how she had always wanted to be a mother, but she wanted this to be done on her own time with the decision being her own.

A controversial topic that is widely and commonly debated by many include not only abortion itself but the method in which the abortion is performed. Many different options are offered for women seeking an abortion depending on how far along they are with their pregnancy and what is covered by insurance. According to an NRP podcast, Audie Cornish reports that Arkansas is the only state in the country that banned abortion by pill. Medically induced abortion compared to surgically. This way the state is able to have more power of its residents as a surgical abortion cannot be performed at home. In Katha Pollitt’s A Bittersweet Pill to Swallow, she discusses how “the coat hanger, that dread symbol of the dangerous methods many women used pre-Roe, has largely been replaced by pills.” These pills are seventy-five to eighty-five percent effective and they are five to ten times safer than Viagra. While the FDA has attempted to remove the online sales of these pills through online pharmacies, they are easily accessible to most. Nina Totenberg, an NPR legal affairs correspondent says that “abortion by pill right now is a method that’s been found extremely safe with complications in only one-fifth of 1 percent of the cases – a far lower rate of complications than carrying a child to term.” While many republicans are in favor of Arkansas new law, this upsets democrats as it lowers the access that women have to a safe and affordable abortion. Currently, there is only one surgical abortion clinic in the state of Arkansas, Little Rock Family Planning Services, and women can travel up to hundreds of miles in order to visit this clinic.

Arkansas’ law is a little tricky in that Arkansas states that an abortion is legal up until 18 weeks and before viability. The definition of viability differs for many and can be seen as early as when conceived up until the baby is born. In the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, they interview Gloria Pedro, the Arkansas manager of public policy and organizing for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, and she believes that HB1439 was unconstitutional because Roe v. Wade set the standard that abortion is legal up to the point of viability, and an 18-week-old fetus typically isn’t considered viable. Pedro says that she “knows that laws like this are designed to restrict access to abortion, it will make it harder for women in this state to access health care, which is a negative impact. Women should have access to excellent health care, not just at any point during pregnancy, but any point during their life.” Due to all of the backlash on the definition of viability, the bill will head to the House for consideration, in order to expand the definition of “viability” to include a fetus that, in a physician’s judgment, can live outside the womb on life support. Many law makers and republicans are opposed to this as an unborn baby could be considered unviable and if the 18-week period was ever increased, it would allow for women to be able to access and proceed with abortions for a longer period of time. If this law does pass, democrats will be content as it will be moving in their directions which aligns with their beliefs as republicans will feel as if they may be losing their hand over the issue of abortion. As of right now, it does not appear as if the 18 week period will be increasing and not much will ultimately change.

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