LITTLE ROCK (LifeSiteNews) – The Arkansas legislature passed legislation Tuesday to erect a memorial to the state’s victims of legal abortion, which is expected to be signed into law by pro-life Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
SB 307 provides for the funding, creation, placement, and, if necessary, the legal defense of a Monument to Unborn Children “commemorating unborn children aborted during the era of Roe v. Wade” on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol.
“From 1973 until 2022, Arkansas was prevented from protecting the life of unborn children by the decisions of the United State Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179 (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992),” the legislation says. “During the period from 1973 to 2022, approximately at least two hundred thirty six thousand two hundred and forty three (236,243) elective abortions were performed in this state.”
The Associated Press reports that the state house gave final approval to SB 307 Tuesday by a 60-19 vote.
Lead House sponsor Republican state Rep. Mary Bentley said the memorial would help “remember those children we were not able to protect and we will not be able to forget.”
While the bill passed by an overwhelming margin, GOP lawmakers Rep. Steve Unger and Rep. Jeremiah Moore opposed it by suggesting it would antagonize abortion supporters.
Abortion has been illegal in Arkansas for any reason except to save a mother from physical threats ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year allowed state pro-life laws across the country to take effect.