Cite as 283 Ark. 463 (1984)
moment of conception. The latter is now, of course, the official belief of the Catholic Church. As one brief amicus discloses, this is a view strongly held by many non-Catholics as well, and by many physicians. Substantial problems for precise definition of this view are posed, however, by new embryological data that purport to indicate that conception is a "process" over time, rather than an event, and by new medical techniques such as menstrual extraction, the "Morning-after" pill, implantations of embryos, artificial insemination, and even artificial wombs.
From this synopsis it can be seen that there are three schools of thought on the issue of when life begins; at conception, upon live birth, or at the point upon which the fetus becomes viable. The intervenor committee follows that school of thought which believes that life begins at conception. The ballot name "unborn child," standing alone, would tend to mislead those voters who follow an alternate school of thought and do not think of fetuses of certain gestational ages as unborn children. Those voters could well make a distinction between a one-second old conceptus and a fetus of eight months gestation which this popular name does not acknowledge. More significantly, the enactment of the proposed amendment would do two things, equally far-reaching: it would immediately prohibit the use of public funds for abortion, including a female impregnated by rape or incest, unless the life of the mother were in danger; and two, it would empower the General Assembly to prohibit abortion under any circumstances to the extent permitted under the Constitution of the United States. Yet, the popular name makes no reference whatsoever to this emotionally charged subject. Instead, the ballot name contains only the inviting catch words "unborn child," which gives the voters only the impression the proponents of the amendment want them to have. Very few would vote against a child, born or unborn, even though they are for a woman's right to have an abortion or for the state paying for it. The popular name is a clear-cut example of the partisan coloring of ballots which we have uniformly condemned in our decisions holding that a ballot name must be fair and impartial.
