Last October Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a request to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Law.
Portions of the law were struck by lower federal courts, but A.G. Rutledge is asking the Supreme Court for a hearing to determine the law’s constitutionality. Progress is being made on that hearing; earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court asked opponents of the law to respond to the A.G.’s request by December 10.
As the A.G.’s office notes, this shows the U.S. Supreme Court is giving the issue “serious consideration.”
The Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act was sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert in 2013; it originally prevented most abortions after the twelfth week of pregnancy. Portions of the law pertaining to informed-consent prior to an abortion are still in place, but the provisions preventing a doctor from performing an abortion after the twelfth week of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected were struck down.
The A.G.’s office asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and uphold the entire law as constitutional last October; a review would set the stage for the court to revise or overturn key elements of past abortion decisions, such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
