LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a brand new legislation that will permit a monument close to the state Capitol marking the variety of abortions carried out in Arkansas earlier than the U.S. Supreme Courtroom struck down Roe v. Wade.
Sanders’ workplace mentioned Friday night time that the Republican governor signed the invoice that can permit the creation of a privately funded “monument to the unborn” on the Capitol grounds. The invoice, accepted by lawmakers final week, requires the secretary of state to allow and organize the location of the monument.
It additionally requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Fee to supervise the collection of the artist and the design of the monument, with enter from anti-abortion teams.
A legislation Arkansas accepted in 2019 banning almost all abortions took impact final yr when the U.S. Supreme Courtroom struck down the 1973 Roe determination. Arkansas’ ban solely permits abortions to save lots of the lifetime of the mom in a medical emergency.
Tennessee lawmakers accepted laws in 2018 permitting an analogous privately funded monument on its Capitol grounds. The monument has not but been put in.
Arkansas’ proposal confronted opposition from some anti-abortion Republicans who mentioned it was counterproductive, and Democrats who mentioned the monument proposal was divisive.
Different monuments on the state Capitol grounds embody a sculpture of the 9 Black college students who built-in Little Rock Central Excessive Faculty. A Ten Commandments monument was put in on the Capitol grounds in 2018.
Extra Should-Reads From TIME
