A.G.’s From Out of State Ask Court to Block Arkansas’ Pro-Life Laws

Jerry Cox, Contributing Author: Last week a group of 20 attorneys general filed an amicus brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an effort to block three pro-life laws in Arkansas.

Last June abortionists sued the State of Arkansas over three new pro-life laws passed in 2019:

• Act 493 of 2019, prohibiting abortion after the eighteenth week of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
• Act 619 of 2019, prohibiting abortion of an unborn baby solely because the child has Down Syndrome.
• Act 700 of 2019, requiring abortion doctors to be board certified or board eligible OB/GYNs.

A lower court in Little Rock initially blocked the laws.

However, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has asked the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to let Arkansas enforce these good laws.

On January 7 a coalition of state attorneys general filed an amicus brief with the Eighth Circuit arguing that Act 493 and Act 619 are unconstitutional and should be struck down.

The amicus brief includes the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

It’s worth noting that with the exception of Minnesota, none of these states are actually from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2018 many of these same states tried to convince the federal courts to block other pro-life laws in Arkansas.

The amicus brief filed last week claims the State of Arkansas does not have the authority to prohibit abortion after the eighteenth week of pregnancy and that lawmakers cannot protect an unborn child from being aborted simply because he or she might have Down Syndrome.

Interestingly, the amicus brief does not say a word about Act 700 requiring abortionists to be board certified or board eligible OB/GYNs.

Apparently even these attorneys couldn’t come up with a reason why anyone besides an OB/GYN should be able to perform abortions.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I don’t know of any attorney general in America who is doing more to fight for the right to life than Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

Her team has won some major victories in the Eighth Circuit in past years, and I believe there will be other pro-life victories in 2020

Perhaps that’s why abortion advocates are so desperate to block pro-life laws here in Arkansas.
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Jerry Cox is the founder and president of Family Council and the Education Alliance and a contributing author to the ARRA News Service.

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