Arkansas Supreme Court Rejects Abortion Amendment Push

In a stunning victory for pro-life advocates, the Arkansas Supreme Court has stood by the state’s strong stance in protecting the unborn and rejected an effort by a left-leaning group to place an abortion amendment on the November ballot.

On Thursday, the court voted 4-3 in favor of upholding Secretary of State John Thurston’s decision to block the amendment, which sought to roll back crucial pro-life protections in the state.

The group behind the initiative, Arkansans for Limited Government, sought to provide exceptions to current Arkansas abortion laws in cases of forced intercourse, incest and fetal anomalies while seeking the creation of a right to abortion up until 18 weeks after conception. It has to be underlined here that at 18 weeks an unborn baby’s digestive system starts working, and the baby can hear the sounds — a time very crucial in development.

But the court sided with Thurston, who scrapped the group’s amendment last month after they didn’t disclose who was paid to collect the 14,143 signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot.

“This court is being asked to order another constitutional officer, the Arkansas Secretary of State, to ignore a mandatory statutory provision that he has enforced. That is not the proper role of the court,” the majority opinion stated.

The move received rapturous applause from GOP Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who took to X to celebrate. “Proud I helped build the first conservative Supreme Court majority in the history of Arkansas and today that court upheld the rule of law, and with it, the right to life,” she wrote.

Proud I helped build the first conservative Supreme Court majority in the history of Arkansas and today that court upheld the rule of law, and with it, the right to life.

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) August 22, 2024

Justices Karen Baker and Courtney Rae Hudson shredded Thurston in a strongly worded dissent for creating a reason to refuse to accept the proposed amendment.

“This requirement was made up out of whole cloth. Regnat Populus — The People Rule — is the motto of Arkansas. Today’s decision strips every Arkansan of this power,” they wrote.

Thurston himself said he remained committed to the integrity of the electoral process. “During this electoral process, my staff maintained the highest professional standards and did not allow partisan politics or misinformation to deter them from their duty to comply with the law,” he said in an emailed statement, in which he added, “I am dedicated to my calling to serve Arkansans and will continue to do so.”