Lawmakers reject child rape, incest exceptions to Arkansas abortion ban | CPT PPP Coverage

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An effort to allow children and victims of incest to obtain an abortion has failed in the Arkansas Legislature.

Members of the House Judiciary committee on Thursday rejected House Bill 1670, sponsored by Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock.

Speaking before the vote, Hudson challenged Republicans to support the bill on the grounds it would protect children.

“We’ve also spent an awful lot of time this session talking about things that kids aren’t ready to do. We’ve talked about materials they’re not ready to read, we’ve talked about materials they’re not ready to see, we’ve talked about activities they’re not ready to perform, and yet we talk about making them parents,” Hudson said.

The bill would have expanded the exceptions to Arkansas’ abortion ban to include cases of incest and children under 16, which is the age of consent in the state. Hudson said children who get pregnant are more likely to suffer potentially life-threatening complications, though that likely would not be enough to qualify for Arkansas’ current exception to its abortion ban.

“When we are talking about a situation in which a 10-year-old child is being forced to carry a pregnancy to term that may kill her, that may result in a dead baby or that may result in permanent, lifetime physical disabilities, then we need to take a really serious look at what we’re doing and why we want the public policy of this state to sentence children to these types of issues,” Hudson said.

Hudson noted Arkansas has the fourth-highest maternal mortality rate in the U.S., as well as the highest rate of children under 15 years of age who get pregnant. Arkansas law currently allow abortion only to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency.

Rep. Cindy Crawford, R-Fort Smith, said she hadn’t personally seen any evidence that children who get pregnant suffer negative health outcomes.

“Would you not agree that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Crawford said, “that her mental health would be worse after she experienced an abortion than it would to be able to, with help, with support, give birth to the child and place the baby for adoption?”

The bill failed on a voice vote. Another bill which would have allowed abortion in the case of deadly fetal abnormalities also failed in committee earlier this month.