What You Need to Know About the Country's Strictest Abortion Ban

If you needed any evidence that the War on Women is still a thing, look no further than Arkansas, where legislators yesterday passed the harshest abortion law in the country — no procedures allowed after 12 weeks. To put this into perspective, 88 percent of all abortions in the U.S. occur within the first 12-13 weeks of pregnancy. In Arkansas, the 12-week ban would affect roughly one in 10 abortions in the state.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, of course. Ever since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973, anti-choice legislators have been chipping away at the landmark case, gradually making it more and more difficult for women in their states to get abortions. But this one outdoes them all.

The silver lining: The ban won't go into effect immediately (it isn't set to become law for 90 days). And really, it may not happen at all. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas (ACLU) have plenty of time to spring into legal action to get it struck down.

"We will fight this law in court to ensure that politicians cannot deny women the ability to make their own decisions about their own health," said ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Rita Sklar.

Hopefully that means women in Arkansas won't have to worry about this latest attempt to set back their reproductive rights by several decades. But we'll be watching.

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