The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) released its 2023 yearly report on abortions. The report indicates that zero abortions were reported in the state last year, even abortions needed to save the life of a mother.
This is a big indicator that abortion is absolutely not necessary.
In June of 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned, Arkansas law prohibited abortions in all cases, except to save the life of a mother. ADH reported that prior to the Dobbs decision, there were an average of 3,200 abortions per year in the state, as National Catholic Register reported.
The report included stats on abortions based on age and consent required, ethnicity and race, as well as abortions by single and married women as reasons for abortions.
All different categories showed the same result that there were zero abortions that took place in the 2023 year.
These numbers do not include abortions that took place via chemical abortions through mail-order abortion pills, nor by women who are residents of Arkansas that traveled to other states to obtain abortions – not to mention any abortions that took place but were not properly documented.
On June 3, Family Council, an Arkansas based group focused on promoting traditional family values in the state, published a press release celebrating the results highlighted in the ADH report.
“These reports are great news. Arkansas has successfully prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. Arkansas’ pro-life laws are protecting women, and they are saving unborn children. That is something to celebrate,” the group wrote before warning that some individuals in Arkansas are attempting to pass the “Arkansas Abortion Amendment” in order to “permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.”
Family Council noted that “the amendment would also pave the way for publicly funded abortion in Arkansas by changing Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution that currently prohibits taxpayer funded abortion in the state.”
Again, this report cannot possibly be 100 percent accurate in concluding that there were no abortions in the state. People on X even commented that they’d helped people obtain abortions in the state. However, hearing that the numbers are decreasing since Roe’s overturn is a step in the right direction.