Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson Signed Abortion Bill to Challenge Roe V. Wade

Holly Dickinson

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., says he signed into law a near abortion ban so it could spark a direct  challenge to the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

Hutchinson made his remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

"That was the whole design of the law,” Hutchinson said. "It is not constitutional under Supreme Court cases right now. I signed it because it is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

"I think there's a very narrow chance that the Supreme Court will accept that case, but we'll see," he said, adding he preferred the legislation included a rape and incest exception.

Hutchinson signed the legislation on March 9.  He had expressed reservations about the bill, which only permits abortions to save the life of the mother. It does not provide exceptions for those impregnated by rape or incest.

According to The Associated Press, Arkansas is one of at least 14 states where lawmakers have proposed outright abortion bans this year.

Republicans are pushing the bans because they want the Supreme Court to overturn its decision to legalize abortions nationwide.

Conservatives believe the high court is more likely to strike down the decision due to former President Donald Trump's three appointments to the court.

However, the legislation won't take effect until 90 days after the majority-Republican legislature in Arkansas adjourns this year's session – meaning it can't be enforced until this summer at the earliest.

Arkansas State Sen. Jason Rapert, R, who sponsored the bill, said he anticipates the legislation will be contested in court.

"We expect that it will be challenged," Rapert said.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that after Hutchinson signed the abortion ban into law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas President Holly Dickinson vowed: "We’ll see you in court."

Little Rock Family Planning Services, one of two operating abortion clinics in the state, will continue to perform abortions before the law goes into effect, attorney Bettina Brownstein told the newspaper.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates the other clinic in Arkansas, has also blasted the law.

"If Arkansas politicians truly cared about the quality of life for people in this state, especially women and children, they would expand access to comprehensive sex education and contraception and address the dangerously high rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality in the state," said Gloria Pedro, a regional organizer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

"Instead, anti-abortion politicians are wasting taxpayer time and money writing a law that's the equivalent of a demand letter to the Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood is committed to ensuring abortion is safe, legal, and accessible in Arkansas, and we will never back down from this fight."

The Democrat Gazette, citing figures from the Arkansas Department of Health, said there were 2,963 abortions in Arkansas in 2019 — the most recent year for which data is available. It said state law had allowed the procedure up to the 20th week of pregnancy.

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