LIZZY ROWTON

Senior - Ouachita Lady Warriors Lizzy Rowton, senior at Ouachita High School, is the Malvern Daily Record’s Athlete of the Week for surpassing her 1,500th career point in Ouachita’s victory against Magnet Cove 61-32 Friday February 12 at Ouachita High School Gymnasium. Rowton scored her 1,500th point during the second quarter at the 4:40 mark. She finished as the overall top scorer for the game with 15 points in double-figures. The victory swept the non-conference schedule meetings against Hot Spring County rivals’ Magnet Cove. Rowton also scored a career-high 32 points in a triple-overtime thriller win against Magnet Cove in the first meeting December 7, 2020 at Magnet Cove Gymnasium. This season, Rowton has averaged in double-figure scoring along with producing double-double performances to lead the Ouachita Lady Warriors basketball team for the 2020-2021 season. Rowton has earned All-State, All-Conference, All-Region and All-State Tournament Team honors throughout her productive Lady Warriors basketball career.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved a measure banning nearly all abortions in the state, despite objections to the ban not including exceptions for rape or incest.

The majority-Republican Senate approved the ban on a 27-7 vote, sending the measure to the majority-GOP House. Arkansas is one of 13 states where outright abortion bans have been proposed this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

The bans are being pushed by Republicans, encouraged by former President Donald Trump's appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, who say it's time to test where the high court stands on overturning the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

“Arkansas is asking and pleading that the U.S. Supreme Court take a look at this and make a decision that once again allows the states to protect human life," Republican Sen. Jason Rapert, the bill's sponsor, said before the vote.

The bill advanced days after South Carolina's governor signed into law a measure banning most abortions. Planned Parenthood immediately sued challenging the measure.

Arkansas' bill only excludes abortions to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency, and supporters of the measure rejected calls from supporters of past anti-abortion restrictions to include rape or incest.

“In this bill, we’re going to tell a 12-year-old rape victim that because we believe so strongly in the right to life, she’s going to have to carry that baby to term regardless of the consequences it does to her or her family or her life," Sen. Jim Hendren, who left the Republican Party last week, said. Hendren effectively abstained from voting on the measure, casting a “present" vote rather than voting yes or no.

Republican Sen. Missy Irvin said the legislation was “disenfranchising people that are pro-life that believe rape and incest should be a part of this bill because their loved ones were raped." Irvin, however, ultimately voted for the measure.

The bill passed on mostly party lines, with Sen. Larry Teague the only Democrat voting for it and Senate President Jimmy Hickey the only Republican opposing it.

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Hutchinson has also said he has concerns about the bill, citing a letter written by the attorney for National Right to Life that said the chances of the legislation leading to overturning Roe v Wade were “very small and remote." National Right to Life has not taken a position on the bill, though its state affiliate supports the measure.

Abortion rights supporters said they're prepared to challenge Arkansas' measure if it becomes law. Democratic opponents warned it could lead to women pursuing more dangerous methods to end their pregnancies.

“It's bad enough, but it's far worse if you won't put the (rape and incest exceptions) on the bill," Democratic Sen. Joyce Elliott said.