Federal judge blocks Arkansas’ near-total abortion ban

Arkansas’s new law would prohibit providers from performing abortions “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency” and make no exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or fetal abnormalities. Those who break the law could face fines of up to $ 100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. Arkansas Republican governor Asa Hutchinson signed the bill in March and was outspoken about the goal of revising abortion law. He told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union later that month, “I signed it because it’s a direct challenge by Roe v. Wade,” the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized the trial nationwide.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and Planned Parenthood, which along with other abortion rights groups, filed the Arkansas ban lawsuit, welcomed the order.

“Arkansas had a clearly unconstitutional law that would cause disproportionate harm to people of color, people living in rural areas, and low-income people – all of whom are already facing significant barriers to access to health care and a higher risk of pregnancy-related death,” said Meagan Burrows, attorney for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “Today’s court ruling should urgently remind anti-abortion politicians in Arkansas and other states that they cannot deprive people of the right to make deeply personal choices about having an abortion or continuing a pregnancy to fight to do so Abortions will remain legal in Arkansas and the state’s unconstitutional ban will be lifted for good. “

The Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office expressed disappointment.

“The attorney general is disappointed with Judge Baker’s decision today,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Sharp. “She will review it to consider the next reasonable step to protect the life of the unborn child.”

Baker’s order marks the second state abortion ban enacted in 2021 to be blocked in court after another federal judge temporarily blocked South Carolina’s heartbeat ban in February. With the wave of abortion restrictions emanating from the Conservative state, more lawsuits are expected this year by lawmakers. In 2021, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Idaho and Texas codified abortion bans on the onset of a fetal heartbeat, Arkansas and Oklahoma passed near-total abortion bans, and Montana banned the procedure after 20 weeks. None of the bills came into force, either through legal proceedings or at a later date. The ACLU, the ACLU of Arkansas, the Planned Parenthood Federation of American and several abortion providers filed lawsuits against the new Arkansas law in May, based on Rutledge’s opinion that it is expected to go into effect July 28th.

The law is “as unconstitutional as any other abortion bans that have previously been lifted,” wrote the ACLU, referring to Hutchinson’s comments on CNN.

“This will cause immediate and irreparable harm to the plaintiffs’ patients by blatantly violating their constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, threatening their health and well-being, and forcing them to continue their pregnancies against their will,” they added added.

The legal challenge and suspension of Arkansas law also comes after the US Supreme Court agreed to include a major abortion case in the next term regarding a controversial Mississippi bill that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, which is a potential one great challenge against Roe v. Wade at the mostly conservative court.

Burrows admitted in an interview with CNN prior to banning the measure that the judge may not decide whether the Arkansas law will be permanently blocked until the Supreme Court, most likely next year, rulings on the Mississippi ban.

“This is kind of a moment that states like Arkansas and anti-abortion politicians in those states have been waiting for,” she said. “But the way it looks now, Roe v. Wade and his clear line that states cannot completely ban abortions before viability is still the law of the country. And all lower courts – both district courts and appeals courts – are “bound by it unless and until the Supreme Court changes course.”

CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.