Abortion ban set for full House, final vote

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, speaks Wednesday Feb. 10, 2021 at the state Capitol during a press conference about his bill, SB6, that would ban all abortions except those to save the life of a mother. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, speaks Wednesday Feb. 10, 2021 at the state Capitol during a press conference about his bill, SB6, that would ban all abortions except those to save the life of a mother. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staton Breidenthal)

Lawmakers on the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee advanced a near-total ban on abortions Tuesday, setting the legislation up for a potential final vote in the House later this week.

Senate Bill 6, which would ban all abortions except those performed to protect the life and health of the mother, sailed through the Senate last month over the objections of abortion-rights activists and a Republican senator who called for the inclusion of an exception for rape and incest.

A similar debate unfurled Tuesday, before the Republican-controlled committee passed SB6 on a divided voice vote.

"Arkansas is the most pro-life state in the nation and never have our constituents or Arkansans ever voted for abortion in Arkansas," said state Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, the House sponsor of SB6.

Bentley said the bill enjoys the support of nearly all of the state's traditional anti-abortion advocates, including Arkansas Right to Life, the Family Council and the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock.

If passed into law, SB6 is certain to draw a legal challenge from abortion-rights groups. The bill's chief sponsor, state Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, has said that the intent of the bill is to get a legal challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court that will force the justices to reconsider the 1973 precedent upholding the right to abortions, Roe v. Wade.

"Even if you're pro-life, this is a pretty extreme pro-life bill," said state Rep. Deborah Ferguson, D-West Memphis. "Most people want exemptions for rape and incest."

Other women who spoke before the committee Tuesday said banning abortions would simply drive women to seek illegal and unregulated abortions from unsafe providers.

Under SB6, a doctor convicted of performing an illegal abortion could face up to 10 years in prison. Women who receive abortions would not be subject to criminal penalties.

Ali Taylor, of the president of Arkansas Abortion Support Network, said she did not regret receiving an abortion in the 1990s, two decades after abortion was made legal in the United States.

"Twenty-four years later, I am still grateful that I had the option and that the state wasn't arrogant enough to think that it could make this decision for me," Taylor said.

The bill -- which is one of several measures moving through state legislatures with the aim of ending abortions -- has also attracted criticism from some who are traditionally opposed to abortion.

In a letter sent to Gov. Asa Hutchinson in January, an attorney for the National Right to Life Committee said SB6 could backfire and set the anti-abortion movement back if the Supreme Court fails to overturn Roe v. Wade. (The National Right to Life Committee itself has not taken a position on the bill, a spokeswoman later clarified.)

Last month, state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, asked Rapert to pull the bill back from the Senate floor and include exemptions for rape and incest. Rapert did not, and Irvin later voted for the bill.

Hutchinson, who has also expressed support for rape and incest exemptions, has not said whether he will sign SB6 if it reaches his desk.

No attempt was made Tuesday to amend the bill and include exemptions for rape and incest.

Nona Ellington, a Texas woman who said she was left unable to have children after an abortion of a pregnancy that was a result of rape, told the House committee Tuesday that she opposed such exemptions.

"The abortion itself was excruciating, the anesthesia was not complete so I could feel and hear everything that was going on, my insides were being ripped out," Ellington said. "That is more violence than the rape itself."

Currently, state law allows abortions up until the 20th week of pregnancy.

According to the Department of Health, there were 2,963 abortions performed in Arkansas in 2019.

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