LITTLE ROCK — A House committee approved legislation Thursday to prohibit abortions as early as the 12th week after gestation, while the Arkansas Senate sent the governor a bill barring coverage for most abortions on the state’s health-insurance exchange.
On the 25th day of the legislative session, lawmakers also considered regulations on executions and tougher punishments for sex traffickers.
The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee approved a bill that would make it illegal to abort a fetus that has a detectable heartbeat and would require women to undergo an abdominal ultrasound before getting an abortion. It was approved by a voice vote and could go before the full House on Monday.
The bill, Senate Bill 134, had stalled Tuesday over concerns that a woman seeking an abortion would have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, where a wandlike probe would be inserted into the vagina to detect a heartbeat as early as six weeks of gestation.
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The bill was amended to say that the heartbeat should be found using an abdominal ultrasound, the traditional ultrasound that most pregnant women undergo. Sponsor Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, has said that type of ultrasound can detect a fetal heartbeat at 10-12 weeks of gestation.
A second amendment stripped the emergency clause, so that if the bill passes, it would become law July 1, instead of as soon as the governor signs it or after the Legislature overrides his veto.
Rep. Deborah Ferguson, D-West Memphis, said she wanted the emergency clause removed “to give time for both sides to prepare to litigate. There will probably be some legal challenge.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has said the bill violates the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and that the group will sue if the bill becomes law. Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday that the bill appears to be “blatantly unconstitutional,” but he declined to say whether he will veto it.
Rapert said he thinks the amended bill will be constitutional on the basis of subsequent court decisions.
The bill also was amended to say that an ultrasound is not necessary in medical emergencies when the mother’s life is at risk or when her major bodily functions would be irreversibly damaged.
Some lawmakers, doctors and advocates had asked for an exemption in the bill for when the fetus has insurmountable health problems and may not live long outside the womb.
Dr. Curtis Lowery, chairman of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, told the committee that these decisions should be made by the doctor and the patient.
“We have to balance the risk of the mother and the fetus, and sometimes we put the mother at risk for the sake of the fetus and sometimes we put the fetus at risk for the sake of the mother,” Lowery said. “It’s not black and white;I wish it was.”
Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Janet Cathey of Little Rock told the committee that many fetal anomalies aren’t detected before 12 weeks, and the bill would force women to carry these fetuses to term.
An estimated 79.8 percent of the 4,033 abortions performed in Arkansas in 2011 occurred before 12 weeks, according to the Department of Health.
ABORTION INSURANCE
In a 25-9 vote, the Senate sent to Beebe legislation prohibiting insurance policies on the state’s insurance exchange from offering coverage for most abortions. The exchange is a marketplace for health coverage created under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 to begin coverage in 2014.
House Bill 1100, sponsored by Rep. Butch Wilkins, D-Bono, would block abortion coverage from the exchange except for allowing women to purchase it, unsubsidized, through a separate “rider.”
Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers, said the bill includes exceptions to save the life of the mother and for cases of rape and incest.
She said the federal healthcare law allows states to pass laws barring health-care plans in the exchanges from offering abortion coverage; 18 states have done so.
But Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, who voted against the bill, said the bill would mean that women who purchase health insurance in the exchange would have to go “find thousands and thousands and thousands [of dollars] to pay” for an abortion because they won’t be able to purchase abortion coverage through a rider.
Afterward, Beebe said he intends to sign the bill into law.
“It doesn’t really change state law,” he told reporters.
Beebe said he thinks a woman will be able to purchase a rider through the health-care exchange for abortion coverage.
But state Insurance Department officials said last week that no such riders are offered, and they doubted that the private market would offer them.
VETERANS HOME
In a 34-0 vote, the Senate approved a bill that would allow the state Department of Veterans Affairs director to select the location for a new state veterans home.
Under HB1013, sponsored by Rep. John Edwards, D-Little Rock, the veterans home could house up to 150 veterans. The current law caps that number at 70.
The veterans home in Little Rock, which was in disrepair, closed in November after its 70 residents moved to other facilities.
SEX CRIMES
The Senate OK’d bills to ax the statute of limitations on sex crimes involving children and to increase penalties for trafficking minors for labor or sex.
SB92, sponsored by Sen.Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, would remove the statute of limitations from certain sex crimes against children.
Under state law, prosecutors cannot file charges for several crimes if the victims were minors at the time of the offenses and have reached the age of 28.
SB242, proposed by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain Home, would increase the penalties for trafficking minors for labor or sex.
DEATH PENALTY
The Senate approved a bill overhauling the state’s death penalty law, which was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court last summer.
Under SB237, proposed by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, prisoners being executed would be injected with a benzodiazepine, an anti-anxiety drug, before receiving “a barbiturate in an amount sufficient to cause death.”
The bill calls for the director of the Department of Correction to “develop logistical procedures” to ensure that the days of execution go smoothly.
PREVAILING WAGE
The House Public Health Committee voted 8-12 to reject HB1151 by Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, which would have removed the state requirement that contractors pay the prevailing wage to employees working on public projects, such as libraries or dormitories.
Some contractors questioned why they have to pay employees one wage for a government job but another for private work. Labor Department General Counsel Denise Oxley said the law was put in place in 1969 with the understanding that government shouldn’t use its buying power to undermine local wages.
The amount is set by the Department of Labor and is based on county-by-county results of an annual survey of contractors.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/08/2013