Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicators invoice permitting pro-life monument at state Capitol

Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a brand new invoice into regulation permitting a pro-life monument to be put in close to the state Capitol to recollect the lives misplaced to abortion.

The privately-funded “monument to the unborn” would mark the variety of abortions carried out in Arkansas earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade final yr, a choice that allowed states to make their very own abortion legal guidelines.

The invoice was handed by the state Home final week after being accepted by the state Senate earlier within the month. 

The brand new regulation requires the Arkansas secretary of state to allow and organize the location of the monument. The regulation additionally requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Fee to supervise the choice of the artist and the design of the monument, which can embody enter from pro-life teams.

ARKANSAS ABORTION MONUMENT APPROVED BY STATE HOUSE, MUST BE APPROVED BY GOV. SANDERS

An abortion ban accepted in Arkansas in 2019 went into impact final yr after the U.S. Supreme Court docket reversed the 1973 determination Roe v. Wade. Underneath the ban, abortions are solely allowed in instances the place the process is important to avoid wasting the lifetime of the mom in a medical emergency.

In 2018, Tennessee lawmakers accepted a invoice permitting an analogous privately funded monument on its Capitol grounds, however that monument has nonetheless not been put in.

ARKANSAS HOUSE PANEL TABLES PROPOSAL TO END AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The Arkansas measure drew opposition from Democrats, who mentioned it was politicized and divisive, and a few anti-abortion Republicans, who argued that the proposal was counterproductive and that efforts can be higher served specializing in different initiatives comparable to supporting pregnant ladies and foster youngsters.

“This monument will do nothing for the pro-life trigger as we transfer ahead collectively,” Republican state Rep. Jeremiah Moore mentioned final week in voting towards the invoice. “It is going to solely be used as a weapon to rally towards pro-life values by means of fundraising and stirring up anger and vitriol.”

Different monuments on Arkansas’ state Capitol grounds embody a sculpture of the 9 black college students who built-in Little Rock Central Excessive Faculty within the 1950s and a Ten Commandments monument that was put in in 2018.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

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