The “Monument to Unborn Children Display Act,” which permits the erection of a monument on the grounds of the State Capitol to honor all the children who were aborted during the Roe v. Wade period, has been signed into law by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The measure additionally assigns the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission control of the design and contains a private fund that will be established to support the monument’s construction. The monument’s ultimate layout and design will be chosen by the Secretary of State.
The measure, also known as Senate Bill 307, claims that the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court, which established the constitutional right to abortion, prevented Arkansas from protecting the lives of unborn children. The law states that from 1973 to 2022, 236,243 elective abortions were carried out. The monument, which will serve “as a constant reminder of our duty to protect the life of every innocent human person,” will honor these lives lost.
Rep. Mary Bentley of Arkansas outlined how the law permitted the state to raise the private funding necessary for the memorial.
The legislation is opposed, nevertheless. The ACLU of Arkansas’ Holly Dickson, the executive director, denounced the bill as a “performative political stunt.”
Abortions are entirely prohibited in Arkansas; the sole exemption is when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life. In the House, the measure was approved by a vote of 90 to 19.
