Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 20 - PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE (§§ 20-2-101 — 20-86-113) › Subtitle 2 - HEALTH AND SAFETY (§§ 20-6-101 — 20-38-113) › Chapter 16 - REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH (§§ 20-16-101 — 20-16-2509) › Subchapter 15 - ABORTION-INDUCING DRUGS SAFETY ACT (§§ 20-16-1501 — 20-16-1510) › Section 20-16-1502 - Legislative findings and purpose

(a)
The General Assembly finds that:
(1)
The use of abortion-inducing drugs, including the Mifeprex regimen, also known as "RU-486" or "mifepristone", presents significant medical risks, including without limitation incomplete abortion, sepsis or other infections, uterine hemorrhage, blood clots, abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, headache, fatigue, pelvic inflammatory disease, and death;
(2)
Medical evidence demonstrates that women who use abortion-inducing drugs risk significantly more complications than those who undergo surgical abortions;
(3)
The risk of complications, as well as the failure rate for drug-induced abortions, increases with advancing gestational age;
(4)
A woman's ability to provide informed consent depends on the extent to which the woman receives information sufficient to make an informed choice;
(5)
The decision to abort "is an important, and often a stressful one, and it is desirable and imperative that it be made with full knowledge of its nature and consequences", as stated in Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52, 67 (1976);
(6)
To facilitate reliable scientific studies and research on the safety and efficacy of abortion-inducing drugs, it is essential that the medical and public health communities have access to accurate information on the efficacy of abortion-inducing drugs and resulting complications;
(7)
Abortion "recordkeeping and reporting requirements that are reasonably directed to the preservation of maternal health and that properly respect a patient's confidentiality and privacy are permissible", as stated in Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52, 80 (1976); and
(8)
"The collection of information with respect to actual patients is a vital element of medical research, and so it cannot be said that the [abortion reporting] requirements serve no purpose other than to make abortions more difficult", as stated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 900-901 (1992).
(b)
Based on the findings in subsection (a) of this section, it is the purpose of this subchapter to:
(1)
Protect the health and welfare of every woman considering a drug-induced abortion;
(2)
Ensure that:
(A)
A physician examines a woman before prescribing, administering, or dispensing an abortion-inducing drug; and
(B)
A woman considering a drug-induced abortion receives comprehensive information on abortion-inducing drugs;
(3)
Reduce "the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed", as stated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 882 (1992); and
(4)
Add to the sum of medical and public health knowledge through the compilation of relevant data on drug-induced abortions performed in the state, as well as on all medical complications and maternal deaths resulting from these abortions.
Amended by Act 2021, No. 562,§ 1, eff. 7/28/2021.
Added by Act 2015, No. 577,§ 1, eff. 7/22/2015, op. 1/1/2016.