By Dave Andrusko
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson had five days to sign House Bill 1032– the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act. Yesterday, mere hours after the state Senate joined the state House in overwhelmingly approving a ban on this heinous abortion “technique,” Gov. Hutchinson signed the bill into law.
There are now seven states– Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana–which forbid an abortion “technique” that uses sharp metal clamps and scissors to crush, tear and pulverize living unborn human beings, to rip heads and legs off of tiny torsos until the defenseless child bleeds to death.
The votes were lopsided in both houses. The Senate vote Thursday on HB 1032 was 25-6. The January 23 House vote was equally eye-opening–78-10.
“We are grateful that Governor Asa Hutchinson wasted no time in signing the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act into law,” Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life told NRL News Today, “and put an end to this horrific abortion ‘procedure’ in Arkansas.” HB 1032 was Mimms’ organization’s number one priority for 2017.
HB1032 takes effect in 90 days after the current regular legislative session ends.
Naturally, the ACLU will file a lawsuit to try to block the law, this courtesy of the group’s executive director, Rita Sklar.
Equally unsurprising, Rep. Andy Mayberry, the lead sponsor of the bill , expressed confidence in the bill’s constitutionality.
“There were promises of lawsuits,” Mayberry said, according to John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I hope it’s not challenged, but I’m very confident that it is written in such a way that it will withstand judicial scrutiny.”
“NRLC congratulates pro-life leaders in Arkansas,” said Ingrid Duran, director of NRLC’s Department of State Legislation. “They are building a culture of life where the lives of the vulnerable unborn are protected.”
Duran told NRL News Today the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act has also been introduced in Missouri, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas.