Red States Launch New Anti-Abortions Laws, Pleaing with US Supreme Court Directly
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Arkansas Near-Total Abortion Ban Appeals Directly to US Supreme Court
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a ban on almost all abortions in Arkansas. The law outlaws abortion except in cases where the mother's life is in danger and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. It will face legal challenges, but that's what proponents want: They want to see the issue go to the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.
Arkansas inserted very specific language into the bill that states: “"A person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency." Performing or attempting an abortion in any other circumstance will result in a $100,000 fine or 10 years in prison, or both.”
In addition, the Arkansas legislature made a very specific plea to the Supreme Court in its preface to the law. The preface reads in part:
"The State of Arkansas urgently pleads with the United States Supreme Court to do the right thing, as they did in one of their greatest cases, Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned a 58-year-old precedent of the United States, and reverse, cancel, overturn, and annul Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey," referring to Supreme Court decisions in favor of abortion rights.
In January 2016, the US Supreme Court refused to review Arkansas’ blatantly unconstitutional ban on abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy. The SC let stand a May 2015 appellate court decision striking down the Arkansas law.
How this new crush of state anti-abortion laws will fare in the SC is unknown. With three new Trump-appointed justices sitting on the nine-justic court, anti-abortion activists are hopeful to overturn a woman’s right to an abortion mandated by the US Supreme Court.
