LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas legislators have approved and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed into law the building of a privately funded pro-life monument on the Arkansas Capitol grounds to commemorate children in Arkansas who died during the years abortion was legal in the state.
The Arkansas Senate approved the bill earlier in March and the House voted 60-19 last week for the bill requiring the secretary of state to permit and arrange the placement of the monument which commemorates 236,243 unborn children whose lives were lost in abortion from 1973- 2022. The Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission will oversee the selection of the artist and the design of the monument.
House sponsor Rep. Mary Bentley (R-Perryville) said the legislation would allow the state to raise private money for a memorial to “remember those children we were not able to protect and we will not be able to forget.” Sen. Kim Hammer (R–Benton) was the Senate sponsor.
Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, applauded the establishment of the monument. “As we move forward to protect the right to life of the unborn in Arkansas and our nation this memorial will stand to remember those lives, we were unable to save during the tragic years under the Roe v. Wade decision. The monument to the unborn is our way of saying their lives mattered and they will never be forgotten,” she said.
On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion issue to the state legislatures. In Arkansas, the ruling ended abortion immediately due to Act 180 of 2019.