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What overturning Roe v. Wade means for Arkansas

Between the trigger law going into effect to the right to privacy, how will the landmark Supreme Court decision affect Arkansans?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Supreme Court on Friday released the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a case that has been the nation's law for half a century protecting constitutional protections to get an abortion. 

Both abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocates spoke out after Friday’s, June 24, the ruling. 

“We want to thank the U.S. Supreme Court for correcting one of the most egregious decisions in the history of our nation,” said Jerry Cox. 

Executive Director of Family Council Jerry Cox says this day is historic and the sanctity of human life will now be protected. He says the state now needs to step up and help women and girls with unplanned pregnancies – by strengthening the 50 pregnancies help organizations across Arkansas. 

“This idea that somehow abortion is a right was never written into the ruling, it’s never been part of our law, it’s certainly not part of the constitution and we are thankful the court has righted this wrong ruling and did the right thing,” he said. 

Emily Wales is the President of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. 

“Erasing nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortions is beyond devastating,” Emily Wales said. 

Wales says the organization must change its services but will still offer what it can. She says planned parenthood stopped performing abortions in Arkansas Friday, meaning patients will have to travel to a different state, attempt to terminate their pregnancies without medical support, or continue their pregnancies against their will.  

“State by state bans on abortion will worsen structural racism, and disproportionately harm local income or rural communities. Kansas now stands the only state in our region that protects the legal right to an abortion for any one of the many reasons patients seek this care,” she said. 

The ruling, while most expected after a document hinting at the decision was leaked a few months ago to the press, was unthinkable just a few years ago. This is in part due to the growing sentiments of anti-abortion advocates making their voices heard on the political right, compounded by the three appointees of former President Donald Trump with known conservative leanings: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Emotions were high as hundreds protested the supreme court’s ruling on Roe V. Wade.  

People from Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley gathered in Fayetteville to speak out about Friday’s decision. Including local and state politicians like Washington County Justice of the Peace Evelyn Rios-Stafford and Democratic Nominee for Governor Chris Jones. 

Judi Sartwell is no stranger to protesting for human rights. when she was in college abortions weren’t legal and people often had unsafe abortions.  

“And I don’t want to go back to that time where people die because they want to have an abortion. We finally fought so we could have safe abortions," said Sartwell  

Judi was a labor and delivery nurse for 30 years. part of the reason she chose that field was because of the unfair treatment women faced.  

“I wanted to treat women with dignity, I felt everybody no matter what their concern…their level was in life…they should all be treated the same, they should all be given dignity," said Sartwell  

She chose to protest today because she saw what it was like before roe v. wade and she doesn’t want to go back.  

“Don’t let them take away your rights. Don’t…just fight for what you believe, be passionate about what you believe in because there’s too many people with too much power out there that want to stomp you into the ground," said Sartwell 

Protesters say the fight is not over, they’re going to put all their frustrations into action by getting more people to vote in local elections.

To understand how this decision matters to Arkansans, we go back to 2019, when the state legislature passed the Arkansas Humans Life Protection Act (Act 180)

Arkansas' "trigger law"

Arkansas Act 180 of 2019 was meant to be a "trigger law," meaning in the instance that Roe v. Wade was overturned, it would then immediately be the law in Arkansas to ban abortions without any extra legislation required by the state.

On Friday, hours after the Supreme Court's decision was released, Arkansas Attorney Leslie Rutledge held a press conference along with Governor Asa Hutchinson and certified Act 180 as law.

All abortions are now banned in Arkansas except for medical emergencies— if the mother's life is threatened. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

If an abortion is performed in the state by someone, it will be considered a felony with a $100,000 fine or at least 10 years in prison. The law will not charge or convict any pregnant person with a criminal offense if the abortion is performed.

In response, Planned Parenthood announced that it has paused all abortion services in Arkansas. This means if someone in Arkansas wants to seek an abortion, they must travel to another state.

Seeking an abortion out of state

As of right now, a total of 13 states have trigger laws on the books and others, like Missouri and Texas, have tried to pass legislation allowing citizens to sue someone who received an abortion out of state or assisted in providing an abortion.

In Arkansas, officials said Friday that there isn't any discussion on enacting any further laws or amendments that would mirror a similar action criminalizing the effort to get an abortion out of state.

Legal implications of "right to privacy"

Along with the decision brought down by the Supreme Court, a concurrent opinion penned by Justice Clarence Thomas has put into question other laws that were decided based on the right to privacy.

In 1965, the Court ruled that married and unmarried couples have the right to use birth control based on the same inalienable right Roe v. Wade used to justify one's right to an abortion less than a decade later.

Thomas said in his opinion that now that Roe v. Wade was reversed, the Court should now reconsider the Griswold v. Connecticut opinion that allowed the use of birth control.

Over the last several decades, the implied right to privacy has been the basis of a number of important Supreme Court decisions, including the case that legalized gay marriage in 2015, the case that legalized interracial marriage in 1967, and Lawrence v. Texas, which made same-sex sexual activity legal in 2003.

A 2021 poll showed that 38% of Arkansans supported making abortion more difficult to get while 28% wanted no change. Only 26% of Arkansans wanted abortions to be illegal "under any circumstances" while over 50% said it depends on the circumstances.

RELATED: A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions

RELATED: No, Justices Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh didn’t say they wouldn’t overturn Roe v. Wade during confirmation hearings

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