ARKANSAS, USA — On this year's ballot, Arkansans could have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment that would expand abortion services across the state.
Since Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin approved the ballot title on Jan. 23, the co-sponsors of the bill, For AR People and Arkansans For Limited Government (AFLG) have been in the process of collecting signatures to get the amendment on the ballot. They need to gather 90,704 signatures by July 5, 2024, for Arkansas voters to see the issue on their ballots in November.
Arkansas' current abortion laws:
Since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, Arkansas law has banned abortions at all stages unless medically necessary to save the mother, with no exceptions for incest or rape.
Arkansas was one of the 13 states with trigger laws in effect after the ruling was overturned. These abortion-restricting laws are established to take effect when abortion is no longer a federally protected right.
Each state's trigger laws differed in some ways. For Arkansas, the attorney general was required to certify whether the Supreme Court's decision has either fully or partially overruled Roe.
Then-Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge decided to implement a 2019 trigger law, which is still in effect.
In case the ballot does qualify, here's what you need to know:
The main point of the ballot is to prohibit the state from banning abortions within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, or in the instance of rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies.
Instead of only allowing abortions to save the mother when medically necessary, the ballot would extend protection to pregnant women with a physical disorder, illness, or injury such as:
- Any life-endangering disorders, illnesses, or injuries caused by the pregnancy.
- Any situation where the pregnancy could pose a danger to cell growth or any of these systems:
- Respiratory
- Circulatory
- Endocrine
- Reproductive
- Nervous
You can read the full proposed amendment by entering the opinion number (2024-004) here.
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