Earlier this week, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
Roe v. Wade.
The ban is not scheduled to go into effect until late this summer, so people in Arkansas can still obtain an abortion. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood will challenge the new law in court, and depending on how those challenges play out, there’s a chance it may never go into effect.
But the Arkansas law is part of a much larger wave of states seeking to restrict or overturn abortion rights. The Guttmacher Institute reports that in the first two months of 2021 384 anti-abortion provisions were introduced in 43 states. The proposals include complete bans on abortion, gestational bans, bans on particular methods, and bans (like the Arkansas law) limiting abortions to special circumstances. Since the beginning of the year, eight abortion restrictions or bans have been enacted in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, and South Dakota.