The Arkansas Senate passed a pro-life bill Monday to require abortion facilities to provide an ultrasound and description of the unborn baby to the mother before she makes a final decision about an abortion.
State Senate Bill 85 passed 29-6 and now moves to the state House for consideration, the AP reports.
Currently, Arkansas requires abortion facilities to offer to show a woman the ultrasound image of her unborn baby. The bill would amend the law to require abortion facilities to “display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them,” describe the unborn baby’s development and document the images in the woman’s medical records.
It also would require the state Department of Health to inspect the records quarterly and fine abortion facilities that fail to comply. Multiple violations could result in a suspension of the abortion facility’s license.
If the bill passes, Arkansas would join four other states that have similar laws, according to the report.
Pro-abortion groups frequently challenge these laws in court. Right now, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are trying to overturn a 2020 Iowa law that requires abortion facilities to give women time to reflect and consider information about their unborn babies before going through with an abortion.
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Informed consent laws protect unborn babies from abortion, and the abortion industry knows it. Research indicates that when women see ultrasound images of their unborn babies, they are more likely to choose life. A 2017 study out of the University of California San Francisco also suggests that some women do change their minds about abortion as a result of informed consent laws.
A majority of states require a waiting period prior to an abortion and 35 require informed consent counseling, which typically includes facts about an unborn baby’s development, the risks of abortion and alternatives to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
