Arkansas adopted what is by far the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion on Wednesday — at 12 weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can typically be detected by abdominal ultrasound. The law, the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, was passed by the
newly Republican-controlled legislature over the veto of Gov. Mike
Beebe, a Democrat, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The State
Senate voted Tuesday to override his veto and the House followed suit
on Wednesday, with several Democrats joining the Republican majority.
The law contradicts the limit established by Supreme Court
decisions, which give women a right to an abortion until the fetus is
viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks into pregnancy, and
abortion rights groups promised a quick lawsuit to block it. Even some
anti-abortion leaders called the measure a futile gesture.
Adoption of the law, called the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, is the first statewide victory for a restless emerging faction within the anti-abortion movement that has lost patience with the incremental whittling away at abortion rights — a strategy used by groups like National Right to Life and the Catholic Church while they wait for a more sympathetic Supreme Court.
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