After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Illegal

Arkansas

Arkansas is enforcing its trigger ban to prohibit abortion entirely.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 12-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 18-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 20-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban
  • Pre-Roe ban
  • Reason Ban
  • Telemedicine Ban
  • Trigger Ban

Bans Enjoined

  • Gestational Ban, 12-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 18-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Regulation of Location
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Admitting Privilege Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Transfer Agreement Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

Arkansas law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, Amendment 68, intended to “protect the life of every unborn child,” amended the Arkansas Constitution to state “[t]he policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution.”1

Restrictions

On June 24, 2022, Arkansas began enforcing its trigger ban2, which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy except to save the life of a pregnant person in a medical emergency, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.3 The trigger ban is in effect,4 and the state’s pre-Roe ban remains in effect.5

Arkansas has not repealed other laws related to abortion. It retains a total ban6 and gestational bans at twelve-weeks LMP,7 eighteen weeks LMP,8 twenty weeks gestational age,9 and after viability.10 On January 28, 2026, a lawsuit was filed challenging Arkansas’s trigger and total abortion bans, alleging that they violate the state constitution and are unconstitutionally vague.11

The state prohibits D&X and D&E methods of abortion12, and abortions sought for reason of sex selection,13 and Down syndrome,14 or race.15 Pregnant people must undergo a mandatory seventy-two-hour waiting period,16 biased counseling,17 and an ultrasound.18 The state retains prohibitions on public funding 19 and private insurance coverage.20  It continues to require that a parent, legal guardian,21 or judge22 consent to a minor’s abortion.

The state retains targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws related to facilities,23 admitting privileges and transfer agreements,24 and reporting.25 In 2023, the state repealed the licensing requirement of abortion clinics to conform with the state’s total ban.26 Arkansas continues to restricts the provision of abortion care, including prescription of abortion-inducing drugs,27 to licensed physicians28 and does not include protections for clinic safety and access. Arkansas still restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.29 Providers who violate Arkansas’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.30

Historical Restrictions

None.

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Arkansas is enforcing its trigger ban to prohibit abortion entirely.

  1. Ark. Const. amend. 68, § 2. ↩︎
  2. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 5-61-301–5-61-304; Stephen Simpson, Arkansas attorney general implements state’s abortion ban; governor hails court’s decision, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Jun. 24. 2022) https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jun/24/watch-live-arkansas-attorney-general-governor-to-certify-trigger-law-discuss-rulings-effect-on-state/. ↩︎
  3. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S (June 24, 2022), rev’d Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265, 274 (5th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  4. Stephen Simpson, Arkansas attorney general certifies ‘trigger law’ banning abortions in state, Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Jun. 24. 2022) https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jun/24/watch-live-arkansas-attorney-general-governor-to-certify-trigger-law-discuss-rulings-effect-on-state/. ↩︎
  5. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-61-102. ↩︎
  6. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 5-61-401–5-61-404. ↩︎
  7. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1304. The twelve-week ban was permanently enjoined, however a federal court vacated the injunction after Roe was overturned.  Edwards v. Beck, 8 F. Supp. 3d 1091 (E.D. Ark. 2014), aff’d, 786 F.3d 1113 (8th Cir. 2015), motion to vacate judgment filed, 4:13-cv-00224-SWW (E.D. Ark. July 1, 2022), order granting motion to vacate judgment, 4:13-cv-00224-JM (E.D. Ark. Feb. 3, 2023). ↩︎
  8. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-2004. The eighteen-week ban was also temporarily enjoined, but the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the injunction following its decision to overturn Roe. See Little Rock Fam. Plan. Servs. v. Rutledge, 984 F.3d 682 (8th Cir. 2021), petition for cert. filed (No. 20-1434), Apr 09, 2021, cert. granted and judgment vacated by Little Rock Fam. Plan. Servs. v. Rutledge, 142 S.Ct. 2894 (June 30, 2022). ↩︎
  9. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1405. ↩︎
  10. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-705(a). ↩︎
  11. Complaint at 61–63, Waldorf v. Arkansas, No. 60CV-26-681 (Pulaski Cnty. Cir., Jan. 28, 2026); see also Tess Vrbin, Lawsuit says Arkansas’ near-total ban on abortion violates state’s constitution, Arkansas Advocate (Jan. 28, 2026), https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/01/28/new-lawsuit-challenges-arkansass-abortion-ban. ↩︎
  12. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-16-1203, 20-16-1803. ↩︎
  13. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1904.  Hopkins v. Jegley, 510 F. Supp. 3d 638 (E.D. Ark., 2021), enjoining sex selection reason ban, Hopkins v. Jegley, No. 21-1068, 2022 WL 18228718 (8th Cir. July 12, 2022), vacating injunction following Dobbs. ↩︎
  14. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-2103. ↩︎
  15. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-2803. ↩︎
  16. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1703(b)(1). ↩︎
  17. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-16-1703(b)(2), 20-16-2403(a)–(b). ↩︎
  18. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-16-1703(e), 20-16-1303, 20-16-602(c)(2). ↩︎
  19. Ark. Const. amend. 68, § 1 (no public funds will be used to pay for an abortion except to save a pregnant person’s life). In Hodges v. Huckabee, the Arkansas Supreme Court held that the state “cannot stand as a bar to the payment of Medicaid funds for abortions necessary as the result of rape or incest so long as the Hyde Amendment as written remains in effect.” 995 S.W.2d 341, 347 (Ark. 1999). Therefore, Amendment 68 is enforced to the limit of federal law. ↩︎
  20. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-79-156. ↩︎
  21. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-804. ↩︎
  22. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-809. ↩︎
  23. Ark. Code Ann.  § 20-9-302. ↩︎
  24. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1504(d); see Planned Parenthood of Arkansas. & E. Oklahoma. v. Jegley, 584 U.S. 1001 (2018) (The Supreme Court denied certiorari, allowing a “contract physician” admitting privileges requirement to go into effect). ↩︎
  25. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-9-302(g), 20-16-608, 20-16-705(c), 20-16-1108, 20-16-1305(b), 20-16-1405(a)(3)(A), 20-16-1406, 20-16-2004(a)–(b), (d), 20-16-2407(b)(2). ↩︎
  26. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-9-302(a)(1)(A) repealed by 2023 Ark. Acts 162 (SB 138). ↩︎
  27. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-1504. ↩︎
  28. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-61-101. ↩︎
  29. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-16-603, 20-16-1504, 20-16-1703. ↩︎
  30. See, e.g., Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-16-1407–1408, 20-16-704. ↩︎