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Arkansas Senate Expands Definition of Unborn Child

1 min read

LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Senate has voted unanimously to expand the definition of an unborn child in the state’s criminal code and wrongful death statutes.

The Senate voted 35-0 Monday to modify state code that currently allows for criminal prosecution of someone who harms a fetus 12 weeks into a pregnancy or later. The proposal by Republican Sen. Jim Hendren of Gravette would make it a crime to harm an unborn child from conception until birth.

The measure would not apply to legal abortions and would not apply to the mother of the fetus.

The proposal comes less than a week after Arkansas enacted the strictest abortion ban in the nation, a law that prohibits the procedure 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

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