New law lets husbands sue to stop wives having abortion

A new Arkansas law will let a husband sue a doctor to stop his wife from getting a particular type of abortion. And it makes no exception for cases of spousal rape.

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.

The ACLU of Arkansas claims the law is unconstitutional and plans to challenge it in court before it goes into effect.

One Arkansas lawmaker said there wasn't much debate about those parts of the law.

Personally, this bothers me. This law states that it takes NO aceptions for rape either. This is disturbingly unacceptable. It should be a womans choice. It is a woman body therefore it is her choice.