The law, called the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act, was passed and signed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and goes into effect later this year. It prohibits dismemberment abortion, the most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions.
A clause in the law states that the husband of a woman getting the abortion can sue the doctor to stop his wife's abortion. The husband has to be the father of the child. And because there's no exemption in the law for rape or incest, a woman's rapist could theoretically file suit to stop the abortion.
