Editor’s note. Figures from the Department of Health’s office of Vital Records/Statistics show that there were 3,782 abortions in Arkansas in 2012, a 6% drop from 2011, and the lowest number since 1977! I asked Rose Mimms to put this welcomed decline in perspective.
The numbers are down (as they are nationally) due to the successful efforts of National Right to Life and state affiliates like Arkansas to pass meaningful pro-life legislation that has exposed the brutality of legal abortion. That included: a ban on partial-birth abortion; giving women true informed consent information about the development of their unborn child, complications of abortion and assistance for parenting or adoption; providing women with the right to view an ultrasound of their child; recognizing the unborn child as a victim separate from the mother in a criminal attack; and finally the reality that the unborn child feels great pain by 20 weeks, if not earlier.
In Arkansas all of these measures to protect women and save unborn human life were sponsored by Arkansas Right to Life. In a state that was controlled by Democrats until 2012, passage of all these laws proves that Arkansas is a pro-life state.
This reduction in the number of abortions took place in the face of the 2011 takeover by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland (PPH) of the local affiliate in Arkansas and the chemical abortion service in their two locations, Little Rock and Fayetteville. With surgical abortion available in only one clinic, it is clear that PPH came to Arkansas to become a major abortion provider.
Already the leading abortion provider in our nation, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are eager to make sure chemical abortions are easily and widely available. With PPH’s success at implementing so-called “web-cam” abortions via video teleconferencing in Iowa, it will be the top priority of Arkansas Right to Life to stop this in the next legislative session.
The three-bill strategy to stop the Abortion Agenda in Arkansas includes the opt-out of abortion coverage in ObamaCare, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act—both passed–and a Ban on Webcam Abortion.
The following is the history of RU486 chemical abortion in Arkansas. If PPH has its way, the numbers will soar.
2006 – 5
2007 – 145
2008 – 385
2009 – 521
2010 – 730
2011 – 759
2012 – 642
Daniel Miller is responsible for nearly all of National Right to Life News' political writing.
With the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, Daniel Miller developed a deep obsession with U.S. politics that has never let go of the political scientist. Whether it's the election of Joe Biden, the midterm elections in Congress, the abortion rights debate in the Supreme Court or the mudslinging in the primaries - Daniel Miller is happy to stay up late for you.
Daniel was born and raised in New York. After living in China, working for a news agency and another stint at a major news network, he now lives in Arizona with his two daughters.
