Arkansas now has the most restrictive abortion law in the country, but the conflict is far from over.
Civil rights groups have promised to challenge the law in coming weeks, and legal experts say both the 12 and 20 week abortion laws are unlikely to hold up against the constitution.
John Wright and his wife have been holding signs in front of Fayetteville's Planned Parenthood office for years.
"They're killing the unborn, Wright says. "The number of babies that have been aborted in this country over the years is running into the millions, and we just think that's terrible."
He's glad state legislators overrode Governor Beebe's veto to turn the Fetal Heartbeat Protection Act into law.
"It really puts Arkansas out in the front of the rest of the nation," he says. "No other state has a law like this."
But Don Judges, a professor of law at the University of Arkansas says there's a reason for that.
"This reflects what might be characterized as a pretty aggressive approach," he says. "Several other states have cut these, at least the fetal heartbeat measure, cut these off at the legislative stage, because it's so extremely unlikely to survive constitutional challenge."
The ACLU already announced plans to challenge the law in the coming weeks, and Judges says if the state chooses to defend the law in court, and loses the battle, it could be costly for taxpayers
"The state would be obligated to pay the prevailing party's attorney fees as well, not only its own," he says. "That can be a fair amount of money, so there could be economic consequences for this thing."
Wright says that will be money well spent.
"It's worth it to me," he says. "I'm not sure that I can speak for everyone else in the state, but like I say this is such a horrendous thing and it's been going on for so long."
Judges says the state will likely have to take the law all the way to the United States Supreme Court for a chance to uphold the abortion ban, but says it's unlikely that the court would even agree to hear the case.
"The last two cases to come before the court involved very late term procedures, these so called partial birth abortion procedures," he says. "They raise a number of issues that are quite distinct from those challenging the core holding of Roe vs. Wade... I don't think a fair reading of those cases leads one to suggest that there's a majority of justices prepared to revisit, let alone overrule, Roe vs. Wade right now."
Civil rights groups have promised to challenge the law in coming weeks, and legal experts say both the 12 and 20 week abortion laws are unlikely to hold up against the constitution.
John Wright and his wife have been holding signs in front of Fayetteville's Planned Parenthood office for years.
"They're killing the unborn, Wright says. "The number of babies that have been aborted in this country over the years is running into the millions, and we just think that's terrible."
He's glad state legislators overrode Governor Beebe's veto to turn the Fetal Heartbeat Protection Act into law.
"It really puts Arkansas out in the front of the rest of the nation," he says. "No other state has a law like this."
But Don Judges, a professor of law at the University of Arkansas says there's a reason for that.
"This reflects what might be characterized as a pretty aggressive approach," he says. "Several other states have cut these, at least the fetal heartbeat measure, cut these off at the legislative stage, because it's so extremely unlikely to survive constitutional challenge."
The ACLU already announced plans to challenge the law in the coming weeks, and Judges says if the state chooses to defend the law in court, and loses the battle, it could be costly for taxpayers
"The state would be obligated to pay the prevailing party's attorney fees as well, not only its own," he says. "That can be a fair amount of money, so there could be economic consequences for this thing."
Wright says that will be money well spent.
"It's worth it to me," he says. "I'm not sure that I can speak for everyone else in the state, but like I say this is such a horrendous thing and it's been going on for so long."
Judges says the state will likely have to take the law all the way to the United States Supreme Court for a chance to uphold the abortion ban, but says it's unlikely that the court would even agree to hear the case.
"The last two cases to come before the court involved very late term procedures, these so called partial birth abortion procedures," he says. "They raise a number of issues that are quite distinct from those challenging the core holding of Roe vs. Wade... I don't think a fair reading of those cases leads one to suggest that there's a majority of justices prepared to revisit, let alone overrule, Roe vs. Wade right now."
