{"id":315225,"date":"2024-07-09T12:40:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T17:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=315225"},"modified":"2024-07-11T21:03:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T02:03:50","slug":"abortion-industry-goal-womens-health-unrestricted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-industry-goal-womens-health-unrestricted\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t be fooled: Abortion industry’s goal isn’t to protect women’s ‘health’. It’s unrestricted abortion."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Arkansans for Limited Government<\/a>\u00a0has gathered<\/a> enough signatures to place a pro-abortion constitutional amendment on the state’s upcoming November ballot. In a recent interview<\/a>, abortionist Dina Epstein, who volunteers with the pro-abortion organization, claimed the amendment is necessary because the state’s current pro-life law is causing ‘fear’ and ‘heartbreak,’ and causing doctors to send women out of state for supposedly ‘medically necessary’ abortions. But the state’s pro-life Unborn Child Protection Act<\/a> has an exception that allows for abortion to “save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”<\/p>\n

The pro-abortion amendment that Epstein is promoting in Arkansas has a broader “physical health” exception for the woman.<\/p>\n

That amendment would, as Live Action News previously noted<\/a>, “set in place unrestricted abortion<\/em><\/strong> up to 18 weeks after fertilization (20 weeks gestation) in the state, or in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly, or ‘when abortion is needed to protect the pregnant woman\u2019s life or physical health'” after<\/em> 20 weeks.<\/p>\n

It’s not really about saving the mother’s life<\/h3>\n

Epstein claimed, “It has been challenging and scary and heartbreaking [to be an OB\/GYN under the state’s pro-life law], honestly. Before Roe v. Wade<\/em> was overturned, there were, of course, restrictions in the state of Arkansas as it was, but we were not prevented from doing our jobs properly. And since it was overturned, that has not been the case.”<\/p>\n

This is misleading. Prior to the overturning of Roe<\/em>, Arkansas allowed<\/a> abortion to save the life of the mother, and it still does<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Arkansas’ Unborn Child Protection Act<\/em> states, “A person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.” It also says that it “is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section if a licensed physician provides medical treatment to a pregnant woman which results in the accidental or unintentional physical injury or death to the unborn child<\/strong>.” (emphasis added)<\/p>\n

The words “accidental” and “unintentional” are key, because induced abortion \u2014 which is what pro-life laws restrict \u2014 is an act that directly<\/em>, purposefully<\/em>, and intentionally<\/em> causes<\/em> the child’s death. It is legal under state law for a doctor to treat a pregnant woman, even if that treatment (such as treatment for ectopic pregnancy or infection) unintentionally<\/em> causes the child’s death. The doctor would simply need to provide evidence that the treatment was medically necessary and that the child’s death was not the intent<\/em> \u2014 even if the mother’s condition was not<\/em> imminently life-threatening.<\/p>\n

The originally proposed pro-abortion amendment<\/strong>\u00a0stated<\/a> (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

The government of the State of Arkansas, its officers, or its political subdivisions shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict access<\/strong> to abortion within 18 weeks of conception [20 weeks gestation] or in cases of rape, incest, in the event of a fatal fetal anomaly, or when abortion is needed to protect the pregnant female’s life or health<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

This was later amended and certified<\/a> by the Arkansas attorney general’s office, to read, more specifically (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

… [T]he government of the State of Arkansas, its officers, or its political subdivisions shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services<\/strong> (1) in cases of rape, (2) in cases of incest, (3) in the event of a fatal fetal anomaly, or (4) when, in a physician\u2019s good-faith medical judgment, abortion services are needed to protect a pregnant female\u2019s life or to protect a pregnant female from a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury<\/strong>; to provide that the government of the State of Arkansas, its officers, or its political subdivisions shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services within 18 weeks of fertilization, which equates to approximately 20 weeks since the first day of the pregnant female\u2019s last menstrual period<\/strong>…<\/em><\/p>\n

While allowing abortion for any reason up to 18 weeks post-fertilization (20 weeks gestation, which is mid-second trimester), the revised amendment also states that it will “define ‘abortion services’ as medical interventions provided to a pregnant female to end the medical condition of pregnancy but not to include accidental or unintentional injury or death of an embryo or fetus before birth<\/strong>…”<\/p>\n

However, the “affirmative defense” in the state’s current pro-life law does not appear in the amendment.<\/p>\n

The abortion method shown in the video below, a D&E, is the most common abortion method used to kill preborn children from 14-22 weeks gestation:<\/p>\n