Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson admitted on Sunday that the “near-total abortion ban” that he signed into law this month is unconstitutional, but he did it because he hopes that the Supreme Court will intervene and strip women of their rights to make decisions about what’s best for their bodies.
“Did you sign this bill because you hope it will be a vehicle for the Supreme Court to look at overturning Roe v. Wade,” CNN’s Dana Bash asked Hutchinson on State of the Union.
“Yes, that was the whole design of the law,” Hutchinson responded. “It is not constitutional under Supreme Court cases right now.”
The bill bans providers from performing abortions “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency,” and makes no exceptions for instances of rape, incest or fetal anomalies. Those found to violate the law could face a fine of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison.
Hutchinson said he would have “preferred a rape and incest exception.”
“I didn’t get a vote on that and so I signed it because it is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, that was the intent of it, I think there’s a very narrow chance that the Supreme Court will accept that case, but we’ll see,” he added.
This is the first near-total abortion ban passed this year as anti-abortion activists renew their challenge to overturn Roe v. Wade with a solid 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
