ARKANSAS PASSES A 12-WEEK LIMIT IN ABORTION LAW

Last week Arkansas adopted the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion on Wednesday March 6^th. At 12 weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can typically be detected by abdominal ultrasound, the woman is no longer able to have an abortion. The law contradicts the limits established by Supreme Court decisions, which give women a right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks into pregnancy, and abortion rights groups promised a quick lawsuit to block it. Personally in the USA and in my country (for class) I would continue the law that allows abortions for up to 24 weeks. There are plenty of reasons why women need emergency abortions past 12 weeks and I don’t see any reason why it should change. Legal experts predicted that the Supreme Court was very unlikely to agree to hear such a case because of how it goes against women’s rights. I am pro-abortion, for the right situation. I am ashamed that some women can use abortions for birth control methods, and that should not be allowed (though it is personal preference) but I think that women in general should all have the right to abort a child up to 24 weeks into pregnancy. You cannot sit here and tell me that the baby in the womb has any feelings or memories of any kind of life. To me a baby does not breathe until it is born and I believe that adoption messes a kid up more than not bringing it into the world at all. A few facts from the article I found interesting;

-Measures have been adopted by the dozens in the past few years, including waiting periods, parental consent for minors, ultrasound requirements and stringent regulations aimed at making it harder for abortion clinics to operate.

-Ten states have pushed time limits for abortions own to 20 weeks into pregnancy on the theory, disputed by most medical experts, that a fetus can feel pain by then.

-A 12-week ban would affect an estimated 12 to 15 percent of abortions nationwide.

-In Arkansas in 2011, 4033 abortions were preformed; 815 of them, or 20 percent were at 12 weeks or more after the last menstrual period, according to state data.

“It sets Arkansas back several decades in the eyes of the nation and the world…It shows an utter disregard for women and their ability to make important personal decisions about their own reproductive health.”