Want access to an abortion in Arkansas? Only if your husband says it's OK

How many times can we possibly have this conversation? Apparently, 44 years into a legal decision decided by the Supreme Court, some of us are still not clear on abortion. Even though the law clearly states that a woman’s right to choose is her own decision and is private, Arkansas lawmakers insist on wasting time and resources on retrograde policies that are designed to take women back into the Paleolithic Era.

In today’s Stone Age chronicles: Arkansas has just passed a new law that not only makes second trimester abortions illegal but also allows a woman’s husband to sue the doctor performing the abortion which blocks her from being able to have the procedure. 

The “Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act” is so obsessed with protecting the life of an unborn child at any cost that it allows a husband to obstruct a wife’s access to abortion, even when he rapes her. And if she is underage, her parents can also sue the doctor on behalf of the unborn child.

A clause buried in the legislation states that the husband of a woman seeking an abortion, if he is the baby’s father, can file a civil lawsuit against the physician for monetary damages or injunctive relief ― a court order that would prevent the doctor from going ahead with the procedure. The woman’s parents or legal guardians can also sue, if she is a minor. The law states that the husband cannot sue the doctor for money in cases of “criminal conduct” against his wife ― namely, spousal rape ― but he could still sue to block her from having the abortion. 

So that’s now three people—a woman’s husband, her father and her mother, along with the state, that can restrict a woman’s legal right to an abortion in Arkansas. Clearly, the state doesn’t believe that women are autonomous beings that should have their own rights to privacy and health care. 

Under the new law, however, if you are an unborn child, you actually have legal rights as an adult patient.