Ark. Code Ann. § 20-9-302 (2026)

1. 1. A clinic, health center, or other facility in which the pregnancies of ten (10) or more women known to be pregnant are willfully terminated or aborted in any month, including nonsurgical abortions, shall be licensed by the Department of Health.
   2. 1. The department shall inspect a clinic, health center, or other facility at least annually, and inspections shall include without limitation:
         1. The facilities, equipment, and conditions of a clinic, health center, or other facility; and
         2. A representative sample of procedures, techniques, medical records, informed consent signatures, and parental consent signatures.
      2. An inspector shall arrive at the clinic, health center, or other facility unannounced and without prior notice.
2. The department shall:
   1. Adopt appropriate rules, regarding without limitation the facilities, equipment, procedures, techniques, medical records, informed consent signatures, parental consent signatures, and conditions of a clinic, health center, or other facility subject to the provisions of this section to assure at a minimum that:
      1. The facilities, equipment, procedures, techniques, and conditions of the clinic, health center, or other facility are aseptic and do not constitute a health hazard;
      2. The medical records, informed consent signatures, and parental consent signatures meet statutory requirements;
      3. The clinic, health center, or other facility provides to the patient on a twenty-four-hour basis telephone consultation with a registered nurse or physician associated with the clinic, health center, or other facility;
      4. The clinic, health center, or other facility has a written procedure for emergency transfer of a patient to an acute care facility, including a medical record form that contains information required for an emergency transfer to an acute care facility;
      5. The clinic, health center, or other facility is within thirty (30) miles of a hospital that provides gynecological or surgical services;
      6. The clinic, health center, or other facility has drugs, oxygen, intravenous fluids, and other emergency equipment on-site and readily available to stabilize a patient if necessary; and
      7. All staff at the clinic, health center, or other facility have documented current competency in cardiopulmonary resuscitation;
   2. Levy and collect an annual fee of five hundred dollars ($500) per facility for issuance of a permanent license to an abortion facility; and
   3. 1. Deny, suspend, or revoke licenses on any of the following grounds:
         1. The violation of any provision of law or rule; or
         2. The permitting, aiding, or abetting of the commission of any unlawful act in connection with the operation of the institutions.
      2. 1. If the department determines to deny, suspend, or revoke a license, the department shall send to the applicant or licensee, by certified mail, a notice setting forth the particular reasons for the determination.
         2. The denial, suspension, or revocation shall become final thirty (30) days after the mailing of the notice unless the applicant or licensee gives written notice within the thirty-day period of a desire for hearing.
         3. 1. The department shall issue an immediate suspension of a license if an investigation or survey determines that:
               1. The applicant or licensee is in violation of any state law or rule; and
               2. The violation or violations pose an imminent threat to the health, welfare, or safety of a patient.
            2. 1. The department shall give the applicant or licensee written notice of the immediate suspension.
               2. The suspension of the license is effective upon the receipt of the written notice.
         4. The denial, suspension, or revocation order shall remain in effect until all violations have been corrected.
      3. The applicant or licensee shall:
         1. Be given a fair hearing; and
         2. Have the right to present evidence as may be proper.
      4. 1. On the basis of the evidence at the hearing, the determination involved shall be affirmed or set aside.
         2. A copy of the decision, setting forth the finding of facts and the particular grounds upon which it is based, shall be sent by certified mail to the applicant or licensee.
         3. The decision shall become final fifteen (15) days after it is mailed unless the applicant or licensee, within the fifteen-day period, appeals the decision to the court.
      5. A full and complete record of all proceedings shall be kept and all testimony shall be reported, but it need not be transcribed unless the decision is appealed or a transcript is requested by an interested party who shall pay the cost of preparing the transcript.
      6. Witnesses may be subpoenaed by either party and shall be allowed fees at a rate prescribed by rule.
      7. The procedure governing hearings authorized by this section shall be in accordance with rules promulgated by the department.
3. 1. Applicants for a license shall file applications upon such forms as are prescribed by the department.
   2. A license shall be issued only for the premises and persons in the application and shall not be transferable.
4. 1. A license shall be effective on a calendar-year basis and shall expire on December 31 of each calendar year.
   2. Applications for annual license renewal shall be postmarked no later than January 2 of the succeeding calendar year.
   3. License applications for existing institutions received after that date shall be subject to a penalty of two dollars ($2.00) per day for each day after January 2.
5. Subject to such rules as may be implemented by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State, the disbursing officer for the department may transfer all unexpended funds relative to the abortion clinics that pertain to fees collected, as certified by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State, to be carried forward and made available for expenditures for the same purpose for any following fiscal year.
6. All fees levied and collected under this section are special revenues and shall be deposited into the State Treasury to be credited to the Public Health Fund.

History. Acts 1983, No. 509, §§ 1, 2; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 82-367, 82-368; Acts 1987, No. 144, § 1; 2011, No. 1176, § 1; 2017, No. 383, § 2; 2019, No. 315, §§ 1846, 1847; 2019, No. 801, § 1.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2019, No. 801, § 13, provided: “Savings clause.

“(a) If a court order holds that any amendment to the Arkansas Code made by this act is invalid or unenforceable, then the relevant portion of the Arkansas Code in effect prior to the enactment of this act shall remain in full force and effect from and after the effective date of this act [July 24, 2019], notwithstanding the amendment made by this act.

“(b) If a court order holding that an amendment to the Arkansas Code made by this act or a provision of this act is invalid or unenforceable expires or is reversed, vacated, or set aside, then the provision of the Arkansas Code as amended by this act or any provision of this act shall be effective immediately upon the expiration, reversal, vacatur, or setting aside of the court order.”

Amendments. The 2011 amendment subdivided the section; rewrote (a)(1); and substituted “department” for “division” in (a)(2).

The 2017 amendment substituted “in any” for “each” in (a)(1); rewrote (a)(2); rewrote former (b) as the introductory language of (b) and (b)(1); added (b)(2) and (b)(3); deleted former (c) and redesignated the remaining subsections accordingly; and deleted “there” preceding “to be credited” in (f).

The 2019 amendment by No. 315 substituted “state law or rule” for “state law, rule, or regulation” in (b)(3)(B)(iii) (a)(1) ; and deleted “and regulations” following “rules” in (e).

The 2019 amendment by No. 801 substituted “a clinic, health center, or other facility” for “clinics, health centers, and other facilities” in the introductory language of (b)(1); in (b)(1)(A), inserted “of the clinic, health center, or other facility” and deleted “and” at the end; and added (b)(1)(C) through (b)(1)(G).

Cross References. Disposition of fetus or fetal material resulting from an abortion, §§ 20-17-801, 20-17-802.

Regulation of abortions, §§ 5-61-101, 20-16-601.