One week after the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it would not reconsider its earlier decision to lift a judge’s injunction against four Arkansas abortion restrictions, that same judge has granted a temporary restraining order to block the pro-life laws once again.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker moved on Tuesday to block four pro-life laws that had taken effect earlier that day. Baker had initially blocked the four laws in 2017, however, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted that injunction in August 2020. Last week, as Live Action News reported, the court stated it would not reconsider that decision after being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Little Rock abortionist Frederick Hopkins. The temporary restraining order is set to expire on January 5, 2021, unless it is extended.
“Arkansas has repeatedly prevailed when it has appealed similar rulings by Judge Baker and will ultimately do so again,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in a statement.
The four pro-life laws at the heart of the debate include a ban on the inhumane second-trimester dilation and evacuation (D&E) dismemberment abortion procedure. The brutal procedure kills a child by tearing her arms and legs from her body before crushing her skull, as demonstrated in the video below. The other laws include a ban on discriminatory sex-selective abortions, a law specifying how the remains of aborted babies are to be disposed of, and the legal requirement that the police be notified and fetal remains preserved when an abortion is committed on a girl younger than age 14. Sexual predators have been known to bring their victims to abortion facilities, and this requirement would help protect young girls from sexual abuse.
In its August ruling to lift the injunction, the court of appeals cited Justice John Roberts’ opinion in the Supreme Court’s June Medical Services v. Russo, in which Roberts said that “state and federal legislatures [have] wide discretion to pass legislation in areas where there is medical and scientific uncertainty.”
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