---
type: "Bill"
title: "TO CLARIFY THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ABORTION TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A PREGNANT WOMAN IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY."
description: "TO CLARIFY THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ABORTION TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A PREGNANT WOMAN IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ar"
legislature: "Arkansas Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1786"
citation: "Arkansas HB 1786 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C. Penzo", "Pilkington"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-29T21:17:35+00:00"
last_action: "2023-04-13T15:30:13+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/639c91ed-7081-4e74-8409-8451a25a21ed"
source_url: "ftp://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/SessionInformation/LegislativeMeasures.txt"
source_hash: "4fc593d46f299c4edbfc8f0a13e5d47f599dc2ed7b52ccd0750c75a80028e3aa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ar"]
---

# Arkansas HB 1786 (2023) — TO CLARIFY THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ABORTION TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A PREGNANT WOMAN IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Act 848** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2F&file=848.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R)
2. **HB 1786** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2023/2023R/Bills/HB1786.pdf)

## Votes

- Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. — **83–12** (pass) · lower
- Read the third time and passed. — **28–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- C. Penzo — primary (person)
- Pilkington — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-03-29T21:17:35+00:00** Filed `introduction`
- **2023-03-29T23:26:22+00:00** Read the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE `reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-31T00:56:11+00:00** Returned by the Committee Do Pass `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-04T19:07:40+00:00** Read the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-04T22:01:29+00:00** Received from the House.
- **2023-04-04T22:01:36+00:00** Read first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-05T19:32:29+00:00** Returned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-06T20:23:57+00:00** Read the third time and passed. `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-06T20:24:01+00:00** Returned to the House as passed.
- **2023-04-06T22:17:56+00:00** Returned From the Senate as passed.
- **2023-04-06T22:17:58+00:00** TO BE ENROLLED
- **2023-04-07T15:12:33+00:00** Correctly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
- **2023-04-13T15:30:13+00:00** Notification that HB1786 is now Act 848 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/639c91ed-7081-4e74-8409-8451a25a21ed`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Arkansas legislature records).