Republicans in the Arkansas Senate voted down an abortion ban bill modeled after the questionable Texas law that relies on civilian interventions and lawsuits to eliminate abortions after 15-weeks, the Associated Press reports.
State leaders and Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson stated that they would prefer postponing any legislation on abortion until after the Supreme Court rules on two cases making their way through litigation, one from Mississippi and the other challenging the Texas law.
“There’s a lot of division about the best approach and to try to undertake that in the middle of a fiscal session that’s not even designed to have that type of debate, I think you saw from membership that most people don’t think that’s a good idea,” state senator Jim Hendren, who is Hutchinson’s nephew, said.