Thousands of abortion opponents rally at Arkansas Capitol

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Thousands of abortion opponents gathered at the Arkansas state Capitol over the weekend to celebrate current anti-abortion laws and encourage more of them.

In 2015, GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed six bills from the Republican-controlled Legislature aimed at reducing abortions. Hutchinson told those at Sunday's rally to continue their efforts, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported (http://bit.ly/1n6OeU9 ).

"Abortions have decreased and adoptions have gone up, but there are still lives to be saved," he said.

The new laws include requiring women to wait two days between meeting with a doctor and getting an abortion, banning the use of telemedicine for abortions and increasing regulations on the disposal of fetal tissue. A law limiting the use of an abortion-inducing pill is being challenged in a federal lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

There were more than 4,000 legal abortions in Arkansas in 2014, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. The number of abortions in 2015 was not yet posted on the department's website.

The rally was sponsored by Arkansas Right to Life.

"We're very pleased with the progress made on the national and state level," the group's executive director, Rose Mimms, said after the rally. Mimms said abortion opponents have more work to do, including overturning Roe v. Wade — the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Karen Musick of the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice, which advocates for abortion rights, said she and two other abortion rights supporters attended to hear the speeches.

"The amount of pride they had at additional restrictions we have here in Arkansas was disturbing," said Musick, who also co-founded a group to escort women to abortion clinics. "Those restrictions do nothing more than increase the number of abortions."

The coalition will hold its own rally at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Capitol.

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The Gayly - 1/18/2016 @ 4:20 p.m. CST