An Arkansas state Senate committee has a passed a bill that would ban killing babies in abortions, calling abortion a “crime against humanity.”
Senate Bill 6 is the “Arkansas Unborn Child Protection Act to Abolish Abortion in Arkansas” and a Senate panel approved the measure and cleared it to go to the full Arkansas Senate next week.
“Abortion, as you will read in SB6, is a crime against humanity in which over 62 million innocent babies have been killed in our nation and we believe it’s important now at this moment to take a stand, in fact, it’s past time,” Senator Jason Rapert, the bill sponsor, told his fellow legislators today.
“With nearly 62 million little innocent baby girls and little baby boys killed through abortions in our nation since 1973, it is past time for our nation to abolish abortion,” he added.
He said the bill is meant to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade and follows on the heels of a trigger bill the state approved that would ban abortions immediately if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
“The difference is by language in the bill, we are now saying we immediately abolish all abortion in our state except to save the life of the mother,” he said.
Gloria Pedro with Planned Parenthood Great Plains says the abortion company is opposed to the bill as are some Democrats in the legislature like Fayetteville Senator Greg Leding. Arkansas Faith & Ethics Council, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s HuckPAC, and the Arkansas Right to Life Committee all support it.
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The Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee endorsed the bill.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson indicated he had some “concerns” will the bill that may have to be resolves before it gets to his desk.
Alongside Rapert was Allan Parker, President of the Justice Foundation. Parker was also the lead counsel for Norma McCorvey, formerly “Roe” of Roe v. Wade, and Sandra Cano, the “Doe” of Doe v. Bolton.
Parker told the committee he spent many years fighting, on behalf of McCorvey and Cano, to overturn the two landmark cases that brought allowed legalized abortion.
Due to inclement weather, the committee voted to allow just five minutes of testimony for each side – for and against the bill. A decision that did not sit well for those speaking against the bill.
Following a short debate, the committee passed the bill unanimously on a voice vote.
