New Book Highlights Unsafe Abortion Practices in Arkansas and Other States

On Monday the pro-life organization Americans United for Life (AUL) published the groundbreaking report Unsafe: America’s Abortion Industry Endangers Women.

The book examines conditions at abortion facilities in all 50 states — including Arkansas.

AUL writes,

Arkansas has some regulatory limitations in effect statewide, and so their response to AUL’s request for information included mostly individual physician records, the majority of which were routine documentation. Clinical inspection reports included citations for discharging patients before the 48-hour waiting period expired, failure to properly clean facilities, and failure to perform accurate drug counts of controlled substances. The record for an abortionist employed at Little Rock Family Planning Services included several citations for over prescribing opioids, including one woman who blamed her mother’s death in 1994 on the abortionist’s over-prescription. The abortionist’s record also included a 2008 DUI which he self-reported to the Arkansas Medical Board, and a patient complaint letter following an adverse event from her 2006 abortion which left her incapable of having children.

AUL’s investigation revealed abortion facilities in Arkansas were among those cited for failing to properly perform or document staff training, failing to “ensure a safe and sanitary environment for their patients,” and failing to properly handle medications.

Abortion is not safe. It kills unborn children, and it carries significant health risks for women.

This latest report simply further illustrates that fact.

You can read AUL’s full report and find out which abortion facilities in Arkansas were implicated here.

Pro-Life Ultrasound Legislation Filed in Arkansas

The Arkansas Legislature is convening this week, and Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (R – Rogers) and Rep. Joe Cloud (R – Russellville) have filed S.B. 85 amending Arkansas’ law concerning ultrasounds before abortion.

Currently, Arkansas law requires abortionists to perform an ultrasound and offer to show the ultrasound to the mother.

S.B. 85 changes the law by requiring abortionists to show the ultrasound of the unborn baby to the pregnant woman; if the woman doesn’t want to see the ultrasound images, she can look away.

The bill also requires the abortionist to explain the ultrasound images to the pregnant woman. The bill contains exceptions for abortions performed due to medical emergencies.

Former abortionist Bernard Nathanson is credited with observing that, “Fewer women would have abortions if wombs had windows.” That’s exactly what an ultrasound image is.

Research indicates that some women are less likely to have an abortion once they see an ultrasound image of their unborn child.

That means pro-life bills like S.B. 85 can help further decrease the number of abortions in Arkansas.

In 2016 pro-abortion group NARAL criticized a Dorito’s commercial for “humanizing fetuses,” because the ad featured a baby on an ultrasound screen. It seems clear that abortionists understand the power of ultrasound images.

S.B. 85 has not been assigned to a committee yet, but it likely will go to the Senate Public Health Committee in the coming days.