"I would love to see us have in this country what I helped lead in Arkansas...Amendment 65 (which) says that we believe life begins at conception, and that we ought to do everything in the world possible to protect it until its natural conclusion."
Mike Huckabee on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 in a debate in Durham, N.H.
He exaggerates effects of constitutional amendment
Arkansas does indeed have an amendment to its state constitution concerning human life, but Huckabee overstates the impact of the amendment.
Here's what it says: “The policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the federal Constitution.”
Huckabee's statement that the amendment says “everything in the world possible" must be done to protect the unborn is pretty sharply limited by the phrase "to the extent permitted by the federal Constitution." At the moment, the Roe v. Wade decision means the federal Constitution permits abortion.
It also is a slight overstatement to say the Arkansas amendment declares a belief that life begins at conception, though that certainly is implied.
We also would note that he got the amendment number wrong. It is Amendment 68 that deals with abortion.
Amendment 65 deals with revenue bonds.
Sources: Arkansas Constitution
Written by: Nell Benton
Researched by: Nell Benton
Edited by: Scott Montgomery
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