TO AMEND THE MEDICAL ETHICS AND DIVERSITY ACT.
SB 444 amends the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act. It clarifies that abortions performed in accordance with existing Arkansas Human Life Protection and Unborn Child Protection Acts are not violations of the act. The bill also specifies that emergency medical care services required by federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1395dd), when performed in line with Arkansas's abortion laws, are not considered violations. Additionally, it expands non-discrimination protections to include medical researchers, physicians, and directly participating healthcare providers who disclose information about legal violations in medical research or healthcare services. This impacts healthcare professionals and facilities in Arkansas.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Mar 12, 2025
Signed Apr 22, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Act 970
→
SB 444
·
1 edit
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted from 'Act 970' to 'SB 444' with minor spacing adjustments. The definition of 'Healthcare service' was slightly modified by removing the indentation of list items while keeping all substantive content identical.
TECHNICAL
Formatting changes removed the header 'Act 970 of the Regular Session' and adjusted indentation of the healthcare service definition list items.
Floor votes
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
19
Key actions
7
Committee
3
Apr 22, 2025
Signed into law
Notification that SB444 is now Act 970
upper
Apr 16, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned from the House as passed.
upper
Apr 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned to the Senate as passed.
lower
Apr 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Returned by the Committee Do Pass
lower
Apr 3, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read the third time and passed.
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Committee
Re-referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE
upper
Mar 12, 2025
Introduced
Filed
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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