Cite as 344 Ark. 627 (2001)
Just as the majority does in this case, the Chatelain court made passing reference to Amendment 68 before concluding that "Whe General Assembly is particularly suited to making this policy decision," Chatelain, 322 at 525, 910 S.W.2d at 219. The court then expressed its reluctance "to create an inconsistency in the laws of this State by holding person includes viable fetus for the purposes of the wrongful death statute when we have reached the contrary conclusion in the criminal law and the law of probate." Id.
The decision in Chatelain might very well have been different had Amendment 68 been enforceable and operative as a constitutional expression of State policy at the time. This court recognized in Unborn Child Amend. Comm. v. Ward, 318 Ark. 165, 883 S.W.2d 817 (1994), that, "until such time as the federal court's decision is reversed by the appropriate appellate court, the permanent injunction issued by the federal district court will be binding upon the State of Arkansas and its instrumentalities. . . ." Id. at 167, 883 S.W.2d at 818. In any event, for the purposes of our decision today, as well as the retroactive application of our holding, it is irrelevant that Amendment 68 had been declared unconstitutional and unenforceable by the federal courts at the time of the Chatelain decision. The United States Supreme Court decision in Dalton, supra, effectively erased the earlier decisions in the lower federal courts.
The view has been taken that if the decision that a statute is unconstitutional is subsequently reversed or overruled, the statute will ordinarily be treated as valid and effective from the date of its enactment, or from its first effective date, and does not require reenactment by the legislature in order to restore its operative force
See 16 C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 108. In Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 511 U.S. 298 (1994), the United States Supreme Court said, "'when this Court applies a rule of federal law to the parties before it, that rule is the controlling interpretation of federal law and must be given full retroactive effect in all cases still open on direct review and as to all events, regardless of whether such events predate or postdate our announcement of the rule'" (quoting Harper v. Virginia Dept. of Taxation, 509 U.S. 86, 97 (1993)); see also, Wilkerson v. Rahrer, 140 U.S. 545, 11 S. Ct. 865 (1891); State ex rel. Badgett v. Lee, 156 Fla. 291, 22 So. 2d 804 (1935).
Constitutional amendments are to be construed liberally to accomplish their purpose. Porter v. McCuen, 310 Ark. 674, 839 S.W.2d 521 (1992); thus, in this case, the purpose of Amendment 68 to protect fetal life up to the extent permitted by federal law
