Fetal tissue collection law nets one case in first year

LITTLE ROCK -- An Arkansas law that requires aborted fetal tissue from girls 14 and younger to be turned over to the state Crime Laboratory has netted just one case in its first year.

Crime Laboratory Executive Director Kermit Channell tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that only one of 10 fetal-tissue cases submitted to the crime lab in the past year can be linked to the new law. It went into effect Sept. 30, 2014.

The law requires medical providers to contact the law enforcement agency where the girl lives. It also sets penalties for those who help girls 14 and younger get abortions without their parents' consent.

Law sponsor state Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, said the law furthers efforts in protecting children from sexual crimes and gives more tools to law enforcement.

Channell said he couldn't provide identifying information about the case. Fetal tissue is tested for DNA, and he said the state has gotten "fetus cases for years" that are primarily related to sexual assault.

The state's two surgical abortion providers declined to comment to the newspaper. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland spokeswoman Angie Remington said the new law doesn't greatly impact its Little Rock office because it doesn't provide surgical abortions. The clinic's medication-induced abortions don't result in fetal tissue collection.

Fite said she hoped the law would deter people "who bring these girls in for an abortion." Consequences are outlined in the act, but there aren't mechanisms to ensure compliance by providers and law enforcement.

"It sounds like we need more education so that everybody knows that this law is in existence and how to follow it," Fite said.

State Desk on 10/06/2015

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