New law allows anti-abortion monument at Arkansas Capitol

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.– Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has approved a new law allowing for the installation of a monument near the state Capitol. The monument will mark the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

The bill, which was cleared by lawmakers last week, demands the Secretary of State to permit and organize the placement of the “monument to the unborn” on the Capitol grounds. It also requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to supervise the selection of the artist and the monument’s design, with input from anti-abortion groups.

Arkansas approved a law in 2019 that prohibited most abortions, which took effect last year after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the 1973 Roe decision. Arkansas’ ban allows abortions only to save a mother’s life in a medical emergency.

Similarly, Tennessee lawmakers also approved privately-funded legislation for a comparable monument on their Capitol grounds in 2018. However, the monument has yet to be installed.

The proposal faced opposition from some anti-abortion Republicans, who deemed it counterproductive, and Democrats who said the proposal was divisive.

Notably, the state Capitol grounds show several monuments, including a sculpture of the nine black students who incorporated Little Rock Central High School. In 2018, a Ten Commandments monument was installed on Capitol grounds.