Tomorrow, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker will hold a hearing that challenges three new abortion laws two days before they are to take into effect.
Judge Baker scheduled the hearing on Friday concerning the new laws, including one restricting abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy, which Governor Hutchinson signed into law earlier this year.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Little Rock Family Planning Services are challenging the laws on the basis that the enactment of the laws would likely force Arkansas's only surgical abortion clinic to close.
The lawsuit is challenging a requirement that physicians who perform abortions be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology.
State Senator Jason Rapert spoke out against the challenge on Sunday, saying, "I invite everyone to pray that God will intervene in the attack on these laws by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Pray that Judge Baker will choose Life and choose mercy."
According to the Associated Press, medical groups have called the requirement unnecessary. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says it opposes such restrictions.
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