Board: Won’t fight abortion- ban ruling

Attorney: Final decision up to AG

A state board on Thursday voted unanimously to oppose further appeals of a court ruling striking down a state law banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Passed by the Arkansas Legislature over then- Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto in 2013, the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act would have banned abortions at or after 12 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest or a “a highly lethal fetal disorder.”

In response to a lawsuit backed by the national Center for Reproductive Rights and American Civil Liberties Union, U. S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright blocked the ban’s implementation and on March 14, 2014, struck it down as a violation of the U. S. Constitution.

A three- judge panel of the 8th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Wright’s ruling last month.

Arkansas State Medical Board Chairman Joseph Beck of Little Rock said Thursday that he didn’t think further appeals would be successful, and he didn’t want the board to owe additional fees to the plaintiff’s attorneys.

Board member Omar Atiq of Pine Bluff agreed.

“This is wasted taxpayer money,” Atiq said.

Kevin O’Dwyer, the board’s attorney, said he will communicate the board’s vote to Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who will make the final decision on whether to appeal the appeals court ruling.

Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere said after the meeting that Rutledge is still reviewing the appeals court decision.

After a lengthy debate, the board voted 7- 6 on Dec. 4 to adopt a regulation implementing the parts of the law that were not struck down.

Those provisions include requiring doctors who perform abortions to first conduct an abdominal ultrasound test and to inform the patient of the probability of the fetus’ survival if carried to term.

Wright on June 9, 2014, awarded the plaintiff’s attorneys $ 65,580 in attorneys fees and $ 3,445.45 for costs associated with the lawsuit challenging the ban on abortions after 12 weeks. That award did not include fees associated with the appeal.

In announcing his deci- sion to appeal Wright’s ruling, then- Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in April 2014 that he had been assured by legislative leaders that costs associated with the appeal would not effect the Medical Board’s budget and that “any costs borne from this litigation will be paid through a separate appropriation.”

Medical Board officials said Thursday that the Legislature did not make such an appropriation during this year’s session. Instead, the board’s appropriation bill for the fiscal year that starts July 1 directs the board to pay the costs out of its own budget, which totals about $ 3.5 million annually and is funded by license fees.