The bill allows for private funds 'of gifts, grants, and donations from individuals and organizations' to pay for a monument to 'unborn children aborted during the era of Roe v. Wade.'
March 18, 2023, 8:56 AMSTOCK IMAGE/Getty Images
"Arkansas is ranked as one of the worst states in the nation for overall child well-being, maternal health, and the life expectancy among adults, yet the legislature has enacted dangerous limits and bans on reproductive healthcare. Lawmakers should be working to protect Arkansans with real solutions instead of this type of performative political stunt," Dickson said in a statement to ABC News.
"From a Christian perspective, this has the look and feel of spiking the football," said state Rep. Steve Unger, a Republican who voted against the bill, on the House floor. "It looks like gloating." Rep. Tippi McCullough, a Democrat who voted against the legislation, told ABC News, "I could think of a thousand ways to better spend money that would be helpful to our citizens."
Hammer also said he is in touch with a company already that wants to donate the monument but did not disclose the company's name or a description of the design. The secretary of state will have final approval of the monument's maker and design, which the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission will select, according to the bill's text.While there are hundreds of anti-abortion monuments across the country, this appears to be among the first approved for the grounds of a state Capitol.
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