State's newest abortion law comes under legal fire

Federal court grants injunction of Arkansas' heartbeat detection statute May 17

Published: May 20, 2013

By Dwain Hebda
Associate Editor

Opponents of Arkansas’ newest abortion law made good on their promise of legal action May 17, asking a federal court to grant a preliminary injunction of Arkansas’ Human Heartbeat Protection Act, enacted during the General Assembly in March.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright granted the motion, meaning the law cannot go into effect in August as scheduled, pending the resolution of the legal issues.

Originally passed over Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto by the Republican-led legislature, the law narrows the window for most abortions in the state to prior to 12 weeks, the point at which a baby’s heartbeat can typically be detected. The law makes exceptions for cases of rape, incest, threat to the life of the mother or lethal fetal abnormalities. The law was, at the time of passage, the most restrictive abortion law in the country.

Arkansas Right to Life executive director Rose Mimms said the action was not unexpected, nor was the outcome. However, she said even as she granted the injunction, the judge was intrigued by other elements of the bill.

“The judge was very sympathetic to the informed consent provisions in this law,” she said. “She was interested in the parts that give a woman information about her child that could make a difference in her decision to abort the baby in the first place.

The motion was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of two Little Rock abortion doctors. Members of the Arkansas State Medical Board are the named defendants in the case.

The plaintiffs are ultimately looking to have the law thrown out on grounds of constitutionality. They contend the law violates 1973’s U.S. Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade ruling, which declared abortion to be legal until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb, generally now considered 22 to 24 weeks. No trial date on the larger motion has yet been set.

“Even if we lose the ability to ban abortion altogether (at 12 weeks), I hope and pray that we don’t lose the ability to inform women that a heart is beating,” Mimms said.

The Legislature also approved in March the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans most abortions at 20 weeks’ gestation. That law went into effect immediately.