Arkansas was thwarted in its efforts to put new abortion restrictions into effect.

Groups challenging measures get victory

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge has blocked Arkansas from enforcing four new abortion restrictions, including a ban on a common second trimester procedure and a fetal remains law that opponents say would effectively require a partner’s consent before a woman could get an abortion.

U.S. District Court Judge Kristine Baker issued a preliminary injunction late Friday night against the new restrictions, three of which were set to take effect Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights had challenged the measures, suing on behalf of Dr. Frederick Hopkins, a Little Rock abortion provider.

The laws include a ban on a procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Abortion rights supporters say it is the safest and most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions, but the state calls it barbaric and “dismemberment abortion,” saying it can have emotional consequences for the women who undergo it.

Similar bans are in effect in Mississippi and West Virginia and have been blocked by court rulings in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Judd Deere, a spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said in a text message that Rutledge disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal.

Baker’s ruling also halts a law that would impose new restrictions on the disposal of fetal tissue from abortions. The plaintiffs argued that it could also block access by requiring notification of a third party, such as the woman’s sexual partner or her parents, to determine what happens to the fetal remains. The state has said the law doesn’t require permission or notice from those third parties before an abortion and includes several provisions that ensure notice or consent isn’t required to dispose of the fetal remains.

Baker also blocked part of a law set to take effect in January that would ban abortions based solely on the fetus’ sex. The groups challenged the law’s requirement that a doctor performing the abortion first request records related to the entire pregnancy history of the woman.