Arkansas
Ranking: 5
Arkansas has made great strides in protecting women from the harms of abortion, requiring not only basic informed consent but also requiring the provision of information on fetal pain and ultrasound availability. Arkansas is also one of only a small number of states that has banned human cloning for all purposes. However, the state maintains no laws regulating destructive embryo research or protecting healthcare workers who conscientiously object to participating in such research. Abortion:
- Arkansas’s policy, as explained in Amendment 68, § 2 to the state constitution, is to “protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution.”
- Arkansas requires that, 24 hours prior to an abortion, a physician provide a woman with information about the risks of abortion, the risks of continued pregnancy, and the probable gestational age of her unborn child. Further, state-prepared materials must be made available to her. These materials include pictures or drawings of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments and a list of private and public agencies providing counseling and alternatives to abortion.
- The state requires that women considering abortion receive information about fetal pain.
- Arkansas requires that abortion providers offer a woman the opportunity to see the ultrasound image if ultrasound is used in the preparation for the abortion.
- A woman must also be informed that a spouse, boyfriend, parent, friend, or other person cannot force her to have an abortion.
- The Arkansas Constitution provides that no public funds will be used to pay for any abortion, except to save the mother’s life. However, Arkansas follows the federal standard for Medicaid funding for abortions, only permitting the use of federal or state matching Medicaid funds for abortions necessary to preserve the life of the woman or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
- The state prohibits the use of public funds for abortions, abortion referrals, or the purchase or dispensing of abortion-inducing drugs in public schools.
- Arkansas’s comprehensive abortion clinic regulations apply to “any facility in which the primary function is the willful termination of pregnancy.” The regulations prescribe minimum health and safety standards for the building or facility, staffing, and clinic administration.
- All facilities performing 10 or more abortions each month must be licensed by the Department of Health.
- Only a person licensed to practice medicine in the state of Arkansas may perform an abortion. Abortion providers must maintain admitting privileges.
- Arkansas possesses an enforceable abortion prohibition should the U.S. Constitution be amended or certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions be reversed or modified.
- Arkansas prohibits partial-birth abortion.
- Hospitals must provide sexual assault victims with information about “emergency contraception.” However, an individual provider may assert objections based on religious or moral beliefs.
- Arkansas has implemented a “Choose Life” license plate program, directing the proceeds to organizations providing abortion alternatives.
- Hospitals must provide sexual assault victims with information about “emergency contraception.” However, an individual provider may assert objections based on religious or moral beliefs.
- The state has an enforceable abortion reporting law, but does not require the reporting of information to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The measure pertains to both surgical and nonsurgical abortions and requires abortion providers to report short-term complications.
- Arkansas requires insurance companies and employers providing prescription coverage also provide coverage for contraception. Coverage of “emergency contraception” is specifically excluded. The state provides an exemption to employers or insurers with a conscientious objection to contraceptives.
- Under Arkansas law, the killing of an unborn child after 12 weeks of gestation is defined as a form of homicide.
- The state also criminalizes nonfatal assaults on the unborn.
- Arkansas allows parents and other relatives to bring wrongful death (civil) lawsuits when a viable unborn child is killed through the negligence or criminal act of another.
- Under the “Child Maltreatment Act,” “neglect” includes prenatal drug use that causes the child to be born with an illegal substance in his or her system or a drug-related health problem. Moreover, such test results may be used as evidence of neglect in subsequent proceedings.
- Arkansas requires healthcare providers to report the birth of an infant with fetal alcohol syndrome to the state.
- Arkansas allows a woman who loses a child after 20 weeks gestation to seek a “certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth,” which is filed with the state registrar.
- Arkansas bans both cloning-to-produce-children and cloning-for-biomedical-research.
- The state maintains no laws regarding destructive embryo research or egg harvesting. Moreover, the state’s fetal experimentation statute only prohibits research on a fetus born alive—thereby allowing research on a fetus born dead (i.e., aborted) with the permission of the mother.
- The state’s “Newborn Umbilical Cord Initiative Act” establishes a network of postnatal tissue and fluid banks for the purpose of collecting and storing postnatal tissue and fluid.
- Arkansas mandates that artificial insemination procedures be done by a physician, there by regulating assisted reproductive technologies to some degree.
- Assisted suicide is a felony in Arkansas.
- Arkansas law protects healthcare providers who conscientiously object to participating in abortions.
- Under the law, healthcare providers cannot be subject to civil liability or other recriminatory action for their refusal to participate in abortions.
- In addition, no hospital is required to permit an abortion within its facility.
- Arkansas provides some protection for the civil rights of pharmacists and pharmacies.
- Arkansas currently provides no protection for the rights of healthcare providers who conscientiously object to participation in human cloning, destructive embryo research, or other forms of immoral medical research.
- Arkansas enacted a prohibition on the use of public funds for abortions, abortion referrals, or the purchase or dispensing of abortion-inducing drugs in public schools.
- To better protect women, Arkansas enacted a bill requiring that all facilities performing 10 or more abortions each month be licensed by the Department of Health.
- The state also considered a comprehensive ban on abortion, as well as a ban on abortions at or after 20 weeks on the basis of pain experienced by unborn children, a measure aimed at regulating the use of abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486, a measure strengthening existing informed consent requirements, legislation limiting insurance coverage of abortion, and a measure prohibiting abortions in state-owned healthcare facilities.
- The state considered legislation criminalizing assaults on pregnant women and/or providing enhanced penalties for such actions.
- Arkansas enacted a measure clarifying a law providing that insurance policies shall cover services and procedures performed at a medical facility licensed or certified by the Department of Health or another state health department and that conform to the guidelines and minimum standards of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for IVF clinics or the American Society for Reproductive Medicine for programs of IVF.
- The state considered a measure relating to advanced planning (healthcare) documents.
- Arkansas considered comprehensive healthcare rights of conscience legislation.
- Abortion-Mandate Opt-Out Act
- Abortion Subsidy Prohibition Act
- Women’s Health Protection Act
- Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act
- Child Protection Act
- Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act (to protect children from conception)
- Joint Resolution Commending Pregnancy Centers
- Unborn Wrongful Death Act (for pre-viable child)
- Born-Alive Infant Protection Act
- Statutory prohibition on wrongful life lawsuits
- Prohibition on Public Funding of Human Cloning and Destructive Embryo Research Act
- Healthcare Freedom of Conscience Act
