Baby steps
9 July 2024 at 12:10
With no national support or attention, Arkansas women (and a few good men) did what everyone said couldn't be done. On July 5, organizers turned in enough signatures to qualify an amendment to restore access to abortion in Arkansas (Daily Kos) despite fake sabotage emails purportedly from organizers and a recent legal change making amendments more difficult to place on the ballot. The amendment campaign has moved forward without the support of national advocacy groups (Slate) because it protects abortion rights up to 18 weeks instead of the limit under Roe, 24 weeks. Supporter and Arkansas ObGyn Dr. Dina Epstein points out, "The proposed amendment covers 98% of cases that occurred previously. ... There are situations still, just because of the resources that we have available in the state of Arkansas, that we would not be able to do because we aren't equipped to do that, and those patients would still need to travel out of state, which was the case previously. So again, not necessarily ideal for those patients, but it does improve access dramatically for the majority of patients who would be affected by this."