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Arkansas Senate Votes to Override Dem Governor’s Veto, Backs 12-Week Abortion Ban

Mar. 5, 2013 10:35pm Jason Howerton

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Senate voted Tuesday to override Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of legislation that would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward and give the state the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.

There was no debate before the 20-14 vote. Beebe told legislators in his letter explaining his veto Monday that he believes the proposal is unconstitutional and conflicts with the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. But the bill’s sponsor said after Tuesday’s vote that he thinks the Democratic governor is wrong.

“That’s not valid. The U.S. Constitution says nothing whatsoever about abortion. This is governed by case law,” said Sen. Jason Rapert, a Republican from Conway.

The House sponsor of Rapert’s bill said she’ll ask that chamber to vote on an override Wednesday. Only a simple majority is needed in each chamber to trump a governor’s veto. If the House overrides Beebe’s veto, the 12-week ban would take effect later this year.

Last week, the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Beebe’s veto of a separate bill outlawing most abortions beginning in the 20th week of pregnancy. That bill, which immediately became law, is based on the disputed notion that a fetus can feel pain by then and thus, deserves protection from abortion.

So-called fetal pain laws enacted in other states are being challenged in court, and abortion rights proponents have said they would sue to block Arkansas’ 12-week ban if it’s approved. The 12-week standard is based on when a fetus’ heartbeat can typically be detected through an abdominal ultrasound.

“Just like we said last time, the Legislature has the final say,” Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said after Tuesday’s vote. “So we’ll see what the House decides to do.

“We don’t purport to guess what either house of the Legislature will do on any issue, so we just, at this point, (there’s) nothing for us to do but watch and see what happens. The governor’s already stated his position pretty strongly,” DeCample said.

All 14 Senate Democrats voted against the override, including five who supported the ban last week.

“I still agree with it. It’s the thing to do,” said Sen. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan. He said he voted against the override as a courtesy to the governor.

Beebe contends that both measures are unconstitutional and contradict Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion until a fetus can viably survive outside the womb, generally around 22 to 24 weeks. Beebe says the state would have to waste money defending the bans in court, and noted that Arkansas paid nearly $148,000 to attorneys for plaintiffs who successfully challenged a 1997 late-term abortion ban.

The 12-week ban would prohibit abortions when a heartbeat is detected using an abdominal ultrasound. It includes exemptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and highly lethal fetal disorders. The 20-week prohibition includes all of the same exemptions except for fetal disorders.

The measure is among several abortion restrictions lawmakers have backed since Republicans won control of the House and Senate in the November election. Republicans hold 21 of the 35 Senate seats, and 51 of the 100 seats in the House.

Beebe has signed into law one of those measures – a prohibition on most abortion coverage by insurers participating in the exchange created under the federal health care overhaul.

If ultimately approved, the 12-week restriction wouldn’t take effect until 90 days after the House and Senate adjourn. Lawmakers aren’t expected to wrap up this year’s session until later this month or April.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas has vowed to sue if the state enacts the 12-week ban – and the group said it was considering legal action over the 20-week restriction as well. Planned Parenthood has called the 12-week ban the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion law.

“I think we’re one step closer to the most intrusive abortion law in the country and it sets Arkansas back decades in public perception in the minds of other people: potential employers, businesses and people who might want to move here,” said Rita Sklar, the ACLU of Arkansas’ executive director.

The original version of Rapert’s bill would have banned abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, but he changed the measure after facing resistance from some lawmakers worried that it would require a vaginal probe.

Women who have abortions would not face prosecution under Rapert’s bill, but doctors who perform abortions in violation of the 12-week ban could have their medical licenses revoked.

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Comments (65)

ellietoo
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 7:12am
It is enough to make your blood run cold when considering the heartless, even murderous attitude the Democrats have toward abortion. Dems even protest a waiting period. They oppose anyone who would try to stop late term abortions or even the partial birth abortion. Partial birth abortions involve going into the womb, crushing the skull, and cutting a viable baby apart in order to deliver it dead. Consider the emotional stability of a human being that supports cutting apart a living baby much less actually doing the act! Democrats, including Obama, fought long and hard to stop the ban of partial birth abortion.
We have heartless murderers in charge of this country. Should this republic fall we are faced with leaders that would just as soon eliminate those who oppose them than any other option. These people support the same ideologies as Mao and Lenin who both slaughtered millions upon millions of their own people for political purposes. Would Obama’s people do less? I think not. They have already sold their souls.

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- biohazard23
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 10:02am
  AMEN!!!! It really makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Heartless monsters, all of them.
  
  Report this comment
- Mojoron
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 10:09am
  I live in Arkansas and the poor-excuse for a governor uses the argument that passing the bill would be an unbudgeted expense for the state to adjudicate the challenges that may be filed by pro-abortion groups in response to this law. Governor, isn’t the responsibility of the legislature to protect the lives of their citizenry? He is more concerned about costs versus the future lives of babies in the womb, a pure democrat stance on life; thought like a lawyer and signed like a democrat.
  
  Report this comment
- Pontiaku
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 11:00am
  [It is enough to make your blood run cold when considering the heartless, even murderous attitude the Democrats have toward abortion.]
  So force them to reproduce and have more heartless and murderous voters. That makes a lot of sense.
  
  Both sides are wrong in this. “Conception” does not entitle anything to be born. And measurable “neurological activity” should negate your privilege to abort. From what I’ve on read on development 20 weeks is perfectly within reason. Just don’t use my tax dollars for your degenerate lifestyle.
  
  Report this comment
Southerner01
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:52am
You would think that liberals would be happy to see a US state pass the same civilized restrictions on abortion that our allies in France, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands (theirs is 13 weeks), Poland and most of the rest of Europe have. After all, they want to copy Europe on their economic policies. Why not their abortion laws as well?

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FloraBelleza
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:39am
Add your comments

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betterpart
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 2:59am
Any woman who has consensual relations without the use of protection—well….as far as I’m concerned you’ve already made your ‘choice.’

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- beps
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:42am
  EXACTLY right!
  
  Report this comment
Xylliab_of_the_Znarghh
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:27am
“Only a simple majority is needed in each chamber to trump a governor’s veto.”

They really should have run that one by somebody who isn’t from Arkansas to help then figure out if it made any sense, because anybody who isn’t from Arkansas could have told them that it was exactly the same as not having a veto in the first place.

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jman-6
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:12am
Yes!Yes!Yes!.. Mrs. ACLU before people decide whether or not to move to a state the first primary concern they have is to check whether they can have an abortion or not! That mam has to go down as one the most “Extremely STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPIDD” statements ever spoken! WOW! just WOW!

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- beps
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 7:01am
  @jman; Blinded by the enemy, is all.
  
  Report this comment
pattik
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:07am
I’m proud now of our elected men and women of AR. They are doing some amazing things and now all we need to do is get rid of the dem gov. who loves ovomit who is up for relection in 2014. Got a great Conservative, Constituion lover who will be running. so hopes are high here.

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- Diane TX
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:21am
  Be very afraid because Ovomit and his evil comrades intend to shut down all political opponents in 2014. He has to flip the US House in order to build his anti-heterosexual, anti-nuclear family, Marxist wonderland. The idiot Left will use every dirty trick in the book to install the sick, evil ways in every State.
  
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- beps
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 7:03am
  @DianeTX; Start praying !!
  
  Report this comment
Ohello
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:30am
Abortion is murder no two ways about it. Death to the murderers of unborn humans. If the aliens came and started attacking the human race by causing death of infants in the womb…. There would be intergalactic war. But if the communists in the liberal think tanks think it is fine …. Well then their world view of righteousness must be ………HOLY!

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- FloraBelleza
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:36am
  People always defend the animal eggs not to be destroy, scientist and ecologist most liberals, they always attack those that hunt to eat meat, but not a single word to defend the innocent that have no voice to scream and said they want to lived. We must turn to GOD again, if not, the America days it’s over.
  
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nzkiwi
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:25am
I used to be very tolerant of a woman’s right to abort a baby before posters (and presented evidence) on this site forced me to think seriously about this issue.

I since read about an abortion conducted at about 20 – 22 weeks while the operation was observed using advanced ultrasound equipment. According to the report, when the gynocologist’s instruments invaded the babies “space”, the fetus reacted sharply and made discernable instinctive attempts to protect itself by trying to move out of the way.

It made for disturbing reading (I’ll try to find it and post it). The gynocologist was reportedly so upset, after later viewing the recording, that he swore he would never again perform another abortion.

It seems to my uneducated mind that once the heart is beating, nervous pathways must obviously be established. I also note that some babies have survived premature birth or ceasarian section as early as 24 weeks, although in reality the odds are much against it.

And let’s not forget that on the rare occassion that an expectant mother has been murdered, the felon has sometimes been charged with two homicides.

I agree with Stoic One, if a woman is raped, God forbid, it shouldn’t take 20 weeks to decide what to do about the fetus, although the decision would undoubtably be traumatic.

In my humble (and masculine) opinion, the governor is wrong, and his legislature is right.

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- DexterMorgan
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:39am
  As I recall I think it’s called The Silent Scream.
  
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- nzkiwi
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:54am
  Thanks, Dexter, you’re right. That saved me some time.
  
  I had not seen the video, but had read a synopsis. Also, my memory was a bit faulty, the fetus was about 12 weeks at the time of the abortion, not 20.
  
  The video is clearly biased, and the “silent scream” claims are not obvious in the ultrasound. In fact, I could scarcely see what was being referred to for myself. The fetuses in the buckets at the end of the video are clearly not aborted (probably stillborn) and have been added for shock value. The language is emotive and some of the claims are silly, such as the suggestion that organised crime is behind this.
  
  That being said; the explanatory lead-up to the ultrasound section makes the case, in my opinion.
  
  Planned Parenthood has had a field day with the inaccuracies and exaggerations in this video, but I think that they have failed to make the basic case that the fetus is an unfeeling lump of cells.
  
  Make up your own mind.
  
  Here is the video:
  
  http://vimeo.com/6174632
  
  And here is Planned Parenthoods response:
  
  http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/Facts_Speak_Louder_than_the_Silent_Scream_03-02.pdf
  
  Although I’m disappointed with the blatant zealotry of the film-makers, my opinion is unchanged.
  
  Report this comment
- mtsnj
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:09am
  The nervous system is the first thing formed all else buds off of that.
  
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SUNTZU
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:16am
In Med school they told me it takes
a man to spermanate the womans egg
to make an omlet
Then why is it ok for the womans to be able
to throw it out.but if the mans throwes it out
he-ll get a ticket fo littering.
Abortions is murder,No not never
Ok Ok unless the momma caint do the child
birth thing
Fo med reason
or it has more then 8 testicals.

Early Cyler

In a country that murdered 20 to 25 million babies
in the 40 years
For convenience .
look around,what do you see
The things that use to be good are bad
and the bad in now good.
Like Rush said ,I’m to proud of it either.
I would put My uniform to bring back
the U.S.
but not for this MESS we have now
DE OPPRESSO LIBER

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- SUNTZU
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:23am
  There is a to up there that should
  have been a NOT
  
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Vision Harry
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:55pm
I remember seeing tadpoles as a little child, and I am still fascinated how they can metamorphose into frogs. They look exactly like spermatozoon to me, which are clearly alive, and have to swim their way to their rendezvous point. Living proof that only the incredibly stupid or the willfully ignorant, can’t figure out when life begins. Now if you want to argue about when the Spirit and the Body are united, then we can have an interesting argument..Lucifer is alive and well and living in this plane of existence…

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- SUNTZU
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 8:04am
  Amen
  
  Report this comment
ones-own-truth-and-ideals
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:53pm
i love that arkansas is still one of the most anti libral states in the union, i love my home state now only if we didn’t elect demo-rats as our gorverners anymore.

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- DADDYWOREAWHITEHAT
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:07am
  Hey huckabee was a good choice. Clinton not so much.
  
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JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:48pm
Sex has been touted to be an inconsequential recreation and has buried the consequences with abortion there by taking personal responsibility out of the equation (just as they have done with many other aspects of our lives).

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- Xylliab_of_the_Znarghh
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:23am
  Golf is an inconsequential recreation. Sex is the best form of recreation there is. It doesn’t have to have any consequences as long as you’re not stupid or a liar. As long as you and your partner are both doing it for the same reason, there’s nothing wrong with doing it just for fun.
  
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I_AM_HARRISON_BERGERON
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:38pm
“I think we’re one step closer to the most intrusive abortion law in the country and it sets Arkansas back decades in public perception in the minds of other people: potential employers, businesses and people who might want to move here,” said Rita Sklar, the ACLU of Arkansas’ executive director.

How in Hell does reducing the number of infants murdered because it might be an unwanted burden set the state of Arkansas back !?! This is nothing more than a claim that killing undesired babies before they are born makes us a more advanced, more noble society !!!
Jesus still loves you no matter what you do, but that does not mean that you are not a favorite puppet of Satan.
Arkansas, well done on your efforts to become the most morally advanced state in the Union.

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Diane TX
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:26pm
Oh those “poor” pregnant women. Now they’ll “only” have 6 months in which they can murder their innocent babies.

Although something tells me that they’ll just go to another State to have their late-term abortion.

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- Winedude
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:47pm
  I was always of the opinion that schools in Texas are lousy and here you are proving me correct. If the ban is after the 12th week, it would be after the first trimester. If you need me to define that for you, that is the first 3 MONTHS! Late-term abortion (a bs term) refers to procedures done after the 2nd trimester (AKA after 6 months, as you referred to). Get the facts right before you type such a stupid comment…
  
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- DADDYWOREAWHITEHAT
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:09am
  Or the doctors who perform late term abortions will lie on the paperwork. Like you didn’t think that would happen.
  
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- Xylliab_of_the_Znarghh
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:31am
  12 weeks is slightly less than 3 months, not 6.
  
  Report this comment
Carlinpa
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:18pm
We are all sinners and Jesus is a forgiving God, but do you really expect or even look forward to seeing these zealous murderers in heaven?

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- DADDYWOREAWHITEHAT
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:12am
  They will not repent.
  You will not see them in heaven.
  They are being held up by all the wrong people & they will continue down their path to hades.
  
  Report this comment
TH777
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:16pm
A human life is a human life. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve heard a heart beat or not at the time you decided on abortion. It would have eventually have had a heart beat. If you are pregnant and obtain an abortion you are killing a human being. I don’t care how you try to paint the picture to make yourself feel justified in your killing of a human being. Whether it has a heartbeat at the time of your appointed abortion or not you have still murdered a human being. You can twist and turn the words to make yourself feel better and justified but it still doesn’t take away the fact that you have just killed a human being. I love how pro abortionists say a woman has a right to do what they want with their “own body’s”. Well here’s a surprise for you….it’s not just “YOUR” body. It’s the person within your body that you are denying the right to live. Whether you like the wording or not….you are a murderer!

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- DADDYWOREAWHITEHAT
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:16am
  Back it up.
  They had a choice to have unprotected sex or NOT.
  The CHOICE was when they had the unprotected sex.
  Now that a new life is created they have no right to deny that child it’s right to life.
  
  Report this comment
- TH777
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:45am
  @Daddyworeawhitehat: I so totally agree with you. But this world has become a world of self indulgence where we are able to feel justified in killing a little innocent child simply because we feel that the expectant child will get in the way of our intended lives. I am so tired of hearing the causes of Pro-abortion. How about a little self control or at the least, protection. It is totally sickening!
  
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Stoic one
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:15pm
Just one question: IF you (a woman) are pregnant via a rape – HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO DECIDE?????

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- Carlinpa
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:20pm
  Yeah good point! Who would wait that long to get an abortion?
  
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seek.the.truth
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:04pm
Moving in the right direction. Good job Arkansas Senate!

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- beps
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:59am
  Time to move to AR, where people know right from wrong & still have some sense!
  
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The Big Mick
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:55pm
At SOME point it’s a HUMAN BEING with HUMAN RIGHTS.
It’s nonsense on the face of it to say that’s only AFTER birth.
So if it’s BEFORE when is it? When it hypothetically COULD survive? Physiologically what’s the limiting factor? We know it’s getting younger and younger. If NOT heartbeat, WHAT? Brainwave?
How can you KNOW pain is not felt? Seems to me to “dispute” it the burden of proof would be to PROVE that pain COULD NOT. That’s tough, even single cell organisms respond to stimuli.
Seems to me to deprive someone of their most basic Constitutional Unalienable Individual Right the burden of proof is to PROVE it CANNOT be a Human Being.

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- Xylliab_of_the_Znarghh
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:17am
  It’s a human being with human rights after it’s born, because that’s when it starts to develop a human mind. A fetus can’t develop a mind because it has nothing to think about. It doesn’t matter if it can feel pain, or if it could live outside the womb. Unless it is outside the womb and perceiving the world through it’s senses it has less of a mind than a pig, therefore, less of a right to live than a pig.
  
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- gauge
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:50am
  @XYLLIAB_OF_THE_ZNARGHH
  
  You’re disgusting……
  A pig has more of a right to life that you.
  
  Report this comment
whatthecrazy
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:50pm
IMO if your life is in danger and only then should you have a choice to terminate your pregnancy otherwise there are several options for you if you absent mindedly forgot your birth controll and no i’m not saying that rape is a good way to bring a child into this world just that it is not the childs fault how it was concieved so that is a tricky situation and i could not make a judgement call in that situation.

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- CatholicTexanGrandma
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:08pm
  And the Church agrees with you. If it’s a choice between the mom and the baby, mom “wins” out. Although no one actually wins in that case. It’s very sad that women with perfectly healthy pre-born babes and normal pregnancies can wantonly destroy their child.
  
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- TH777
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:06am
  @Catholicantexgrandma: They can wantonly destroy their babies lives because society has brainwashed them into believing that a baby is not a human living being until it is actually born.
  
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stopprintn
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:49pm
Chalk up one for the good guys. Rare these days.
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- encinom
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:59pm
  Good Guys? They openingly violated the US Constitution with their ban. Abortion is a protected constitution right.
  
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- frgough
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:55pm
  Wrong. It was 5 supreme court justices in Roe v. Wade that violated the constitution, completely ignoring the government’s duty to protect life.
  
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WINNEBAGOMAN
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:46pm
This could be bad. I like that the Gov’s veto was overturned on this issue, morrally it is correct, but if it get swatted down by another court case, it could hammer the gavel down on the case for pro-life.

This could be good. It could force a SCOTUS review of Roe v. Wade. A SCOTUS that is more conservative than the original Roe v. Wade court, and one that could correctly overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion strictly a state’s rights ordeal.

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Philip Ross
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:44pm
Dem’s And ACLU…… WE have the right to kill your baby.

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- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:12pm
  Reupbs protect the unborn. But on day 1 it’s on its own.
  
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GoodStuff
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:43pm
Why do the people of Ark. keep electing democrat governors??

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- Danny
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:06pm
  Because we are dumb arses.
  
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- ITGuy
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:04am
  It drives me up the wall. We vote republican for president every time but God forbid we vote in a conservative governor. He just makes the promise not to take our guns and that pacifys enough conservatives to win.
  
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- DLV
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:28am
  I honestly don’t get it. I mean the entire state votes for president and governor and yet one comes out democrat and the other republican… what am I missing here? It’s not like there are different people voting for governor… more progressives voting for governor?
  
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- bhelmet
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 7:03am
  It drives me nuts. I love Arkansas, but will be forced to move from here thanks to Obamacare. Thankfully, we are surrounded by states wo an exchange – our POS governor did all he could to get exchanges here including executive order. The problem with Arkansas – two words – Little Rock.
  
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