Samuel Case, FISM News

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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law on Friday that will allow a “monument to the unborn” to be erected near the state Capitol.

The privately funded structure will serve as “a memorial to the lives lost from 1973 to 2022” under Roe v. Wade, as well as a “constant reminder of our duty to protect the life of every innocent human person, no matter how young or old, or how helpless and vulnerable that person may be,” the bill says. 

According to the bill, “approximately at least two hundred thirty-six thousand two hundred and forty three (236,243) elective abortions” were performed in Arkansas between 1973 and 2022. 

The Capital Arts and Grounds commission will oversee the artist selection and monument design with “input from pro-life groups in Arkansas.”

Some Republican state lawmakers were split on the bill, Axios reports. 

“​​From a Christian perspective this has the look and feel of spiking the football,” said Rep. Steve Unger (R-Sprindale). “It looks like gloating. The Jesus that I know, who was a called friend of sinners, never did that.”

Rep. Cindy Crawford (R-Fort Smith) disagreed. “It is not a poke in the eye” she said. “It is a ‘God forgive us for what we have done.”

Tennessee approved a similar capitol monument in 2018, but it is yet to be installed.