Just found out you're pregnant?
It's already too late for you in Arkansas.
Did you know that absolutely everything in Arkansas is absolutely perfect? It's true! Legislators there have solved every single problem the state has, so, because they're dying of boredom and have nothing else to do, they're just going to sit around and ban abortion over and and over and over again.
Last week, the Republican-riddled state Senate voted to override the governor's veto on a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks, in blatant violation of Roe v. Wade. But hey, Arkansas Republicans have nothing better to do, so why not spend a ton of the state's money defending an unconstitutional bill in the courts, right?
Banning 20-week abortions—which are incredibly rare, since 88 percent of abortions take place during the first trimester—is so last week, though, so now, as Sarah Kliff reports:
The Arkansas legislature has the votes to override a governor’s veto, and become the first state to ban abortions after as early as 12 weeks of pregnancy. [...]
A 20-week ban would have little effect in Arkansas, a state where no such later-term abortions occurred in 2009. Bringing that ban forward to 12 weeks, however, would hugely increase the scope of abortion cases effected.
So now that they've wasted time banning non-existent abortions, they've decided to enact legislation that is still just as unconstitutional, but will actually have an impact—a bad one—on the women of Arkansas who would like to exercise their right to obtain a legal medical procedure. And then next week, they can ban abortions at six weeks. And then they can ban abortions at six days. And then they can ban the word "abortion." And then ... well, you get the idea.