As promised, Rep.-elect Andy Mayberry (R-East End) has filed a bill that would virtually ban all second trimester abortions in Arkansas. As usual with such legislation, this one has a scary name: It’s the Arkansas Unborn Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act. But really, it’s a way for the legislature to unconstitutionally ban abortions performed using the dilation and evacuation procedure, which is used in the vast majority of second-term abortions.
The bill exempts pregnant women with a “serious health risk,” which it defines as facing death or the serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment.
It sets out civil penalties for anyone performing such an abortion.
Similar bills have passed in West Virginia, Mississippi, Kansas and Oklahoma. Courts have blocked the laws in Kansas and Oklahoma.