Arkansas Code Annotated
Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-702 (2026)
Definitions
✓ current as of May 2026
As used in this subchapter:
- “Abortion” means the intentional termination of the pregnancy of a mother with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth or to remove a dead or dying fetus;
- “Physician” means any person licensed to practice medicine in this state; and
- “Viability” means the state of fetal development when, in the judgment of the physician based on the particular facts of the case before him or her and in light of the most advanced medical technology and information available to him or her, there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the unborn child outside the body of the mother, with or without artificial life support.
History. Acts 1985, No. 268, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-2562; Acts 2019, No. 700, § 2.
Amendments. The 2019 amendment rewrote (3).
Research References
Ark. L. Rev.
Allowing Fetal Wrongful Death Actions in Arkansas: A Death Whose Time Has Come?, 44 Ark. L. Rev. 465.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2013–2019 · leading case: Edwards v. Beck, 946 F. Supp. 2d 843 (E.D. Ark. 2013).
Edwards v. Beck, 946 F. Supp. 2d 843 (E.D. Ark. 2013). “Currently, Arkansas law defines a “viable fetus” as “a fetus which can live outside of the womb,” Ark.Code Ann. § 20-16-702(3), and provides that “a fetus shall be presumed not to be viable prior to the end of the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy.”
Little Rock Fam. Plan. Servs. v. Rutledge (E.D. Ark. 2019). “nowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, 6 Further, Section 2 of Act 700 purports to alter the definition of “viable fetus” to: “‘Viability’ means the state of fetal…”
Little Rock Fam. Plan. Servs. v. Rutledge (E.D. Ark. 2019). “One’s philosophy, one’s experiences, one’s exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one’s religious training, one’s attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the particular facts of the case before him or her and in light of the most advanced medical technology…”
— Ark. Code Ann. § 20-16-702(3) — 1 case
Edwards v. Beck, 946 F. Supp. 2d 843 (E.D. Ark. 2013). “Currently, Arkansas law defines a “viable fetus” as “a fetus which can live outside of the womb,” Ark.Code Ann. § 20-16-702(3), and provides that “a fetus shall be presumed not to be viable prior to the end of the twenty-fifth week of pregnancy.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.