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 The abortion restriction, like many others passed in Republican
states in recent years, is part of a conservative effort to prompt
the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark
case that guarantees a woman’s right to abortion.
The Arkansas abortion ban makes no exceptions in cases of rape or
incest, and goes further than abortion restrictions passed in South
Carolina and other states, which banned the procedure starting at
six weeks into a pregnancy.
Alabama is the only state to have recently passed a similarly
sweeping anti-abortion policy, when the state made it a felony for
doctors to perform abortions except to save a mother's life in 2019.
That law was struck down in federal court.
"Governor Hutchinson: we’ll see you in court," the Arkansas chapter
of the American Civil Liberties Union wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Hutchinson, a Republican, said in a statement he would have
preferred exceptions for rape and incest, which he thought would
have improved the law's chances of a favorable review by the U.S.
Supreme Court. He said he signed it due to its "overwhelming
legislative support."
The law contradicts "binding precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court,
but it is the intent of the legislation to set the stage for the
Supreme Court overturning current case law," the governor's
statement said.
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 The law is due to go into
effect in August, 90 days after the
Republican-led legislature is scheduled to
adjourn. Abortion is one of the
most divisive issues in the United States, with opponents citing
religious beliefs to declare it immoral, while abortion-rights
activists say the procedure is basic healthcare and restrictions rob
women of control over their bodies.
Women's healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood
denounced Arkansas' law and said politicians should be more focused
on the state's COVID-19 response and vaccination efforts right now.
"Our patients deserve better. Planned Parenthood will work alongside
its partners to fight this attack on our rights and freedoms,"
Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson said
in a statement.
(Editing by David Gregorio)
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