Arkansas Allocates $2 Million to Pregnancy Help Organizations

Arkansas pro-life lawmakers allocated $2 million worth of grants to pregnancy help organizations in their appropriations process this legislative cycle.

The measure, H.B. 1202, was approved by Arkansas’s Joint Budget Committee, signed by the governor, and is now Act 1006.

The law describes a pregnancy help organization as an entity that “seeks to provide a range of services to individuals facing an unintended pregnancy to encourage pregnant women to give birth to their unborn children.”

The measure seeks to fund organizations that promote infant and maternal wellness through counseling, medical care options, social, emotional and/or material support and assistance with nutritional support.

The law also clearly prohibits any grants going to organizations that “perform, prescribe, provide referral for or encourage abortion.”

Arkansas’ Family Council praised the allocation of $2 million in grant money to pregnancy help organizations, reflecting, “We need to work to make abortion irrelevant and unthinkable as well. Supporting pregnancy resource centers is one way we can do that.”

The new grant allocations will be available to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies and entities that help provide material support to pregnant women.

According to Arkansas Right to Life, the state has over 50 pregnancy resource centers.

In Arkansas, preborn human life is protected from the moment of conception.

Last November, Arkansas beat back an effort to amend its state constitution to include the so-called right to abortion.

For the fifth year in a row, Arkansas was named the “most pro-life state” in the nation by Americans United for Life. States are ranked according to their policies, including “abortion law, legal recognition of preborn children, bioethics, assisted suicide and end-of-life patient care, and healthcare rights of conscience.”

Click here to see some of the significant policies Arkansas is advancing to promote life-affirming policies in the state.

As reported by the Daily Citizen, there are approximately 2,750 pregnancy resource centers nationwide providing nearly $368 million in free services to clients every year.

The Choose Life Coalition tracks available grant money and tax credits for pregnancy help organizations at the state level. According to their website, 19 states now have funding opportunities available.