LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS — January 28, 2026 — On Wednesday, January 28, 2026, Amplify Legal – the new litigation arm of Abortion in America – filed its first case, Waldorf v. Arkansas, a lawsuit brought on behalf of four patients and one physician seeking to strike down Arkansas’s abortion ban in its entirety. The suit includes two patients who had to flee the state for emergency abortion care, another forced to remain in state and be denied care for a doomed pregnancy for weeks on end, and another who was unable to receive an abortion in Arkansas after sexual assault. The lead plaintiff, Emily Waldorf, contacted Governor Huckabee Sanders’ office from the hospital during her medical emergency pleading for help, only to be dismissed and ignored. 

The lawsuit argues that Arkansas’s near-total abortion ban denies pregnant Arkansans life-saving medical care and autonomy over their health decisions, and leaves doctors with no meaningful ability to distinguish between care that is legal and care that will subject them to criminal prosecution. 

“Each of the plaintiffs in this case has said the same thing we hear every day from storytellers who share their experiences through Abortion in America: ‘I’m coming forward to prevent what happened to me from ever happening to anyone else,” said Lauren Peterson, Chief Executive Officer of Abortion in America. “Their stories show how abortion bans like Arkansas’ hurt families, prevent people from making deeply personal decisions, and make pregnancy and giving birth more dangerous. We’re challenging this law because Arkansans deserve better.” 

“Arkansas’s abortion ban took away my ability to make decisions about my own life,” said Emily Waldorf, the lead plaintiff in the case. “Abortion is health care, and yet I had to travel across three states by ambulance just to get the care I needed. This can happen to anyone, and I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.” 

“Arkansans have fundamental rights that do not disappear just because they are pregnant,” said Molly Duane, Litigation Director of Amplify Legal. “Arkansas’s Constitution contains strong protections for life, liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness, and prohibits criminal laws that are so vague that patients and doctors are left guessing about what care is legal. This case is about enforcing those fundamental protections for all Arkansans.”

The complaint can be found HERE.

More details:

• When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, a sweeping ban on abortion immediately took effect in Arkansas, giving the state one of the worst bans in the country. The language in this abortion ban, the lawsuit argues, is unconstitutional because it denies pregnant Arkansans their rights and is vague and confusing, making it virtually impossible for medical professionals to determine if their patients are sick enough to qualify for an exception under the ban. 

• As a result, thousands of Arkansans have been forced to flee their state and travel across the country for essential health care. As a result of this ban in Arkansas, a state that already has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, patients are often pushed later into pregnancy when needed medical intervention is more complicated or forced to remain pregnant against their will. 

• The Arkansas Constitution has particularly strong protections to individual rights to life, liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness. The state’s abortion ban infringes on those fundamental rights. 

• Arkansas women are being denied essential and timely care, even in the most dire emergencies, because medical professionals’ hands are tied by this hopelessly vague and cruel law. The patient plaintiffs have all faced irreparable damage and reproductive harm as a result of Arkansas’s sweeping abortion ban; this lawsuit seeks to bring justice to them and all future pregnant Arkansans.
  

The Plaintiffs:

• Emily Waldorf, Fayetteville, was 17 weeks pregnant with her second child in September of 2024 when her water broke. It was far too early for there to be any hope of the baby surviving, and she was at risk of sepsis. She spent five days in a Fayetteville hospital where she also worked, but was denied both antibiotics (to prevent a deadly infection) and an abortion to save her life. Her friends and family called Governor Huckabee Sanders’ office for help and were told to get a lawyer. On her fifth day in the hospital, Emily did just that, hiring a lawyer who sought to convince the hospital that an abortion was legal in her medical circumstances. But all the hospital would agree to do was to put her in an ambulance to Kansas. Emily was saddled with thousands of dollars in out-of-state medical bills along with trauma, and fear for future pregnancies.

• Theresa Van, Fort Smith, was thrilled to be pregnant in 2023 when she visited her doctor for a routine mid-pregnancy anatomy scan. After an abortion in 2019 before she was ready to be a parent, two subsequent miscarriages, and the birth of her daughter in 2021, she was excited to give her daughter a sibling. At this ultrasound, however, Ms. Van was told that she had no amniotic fluid and she would lose the pregnancy. Because she lacked the funds and feared criminal penalties for leaving the state, Ms. Van had no choice but to continue the pregnancy in Arkansas. For seven excruciating weeks, Ms. Van had a weekly appointment with her OB/GYN followed immediately by another appointment with a psychiatrist. Because of Arkansas’ abortion ban, her doctor could only induce labor if and when the baby’s heart stopped. But when that happened, Ms. Van then had to drive to Little Rock because her local hospital was not equipped to handle her delivery due to her high risk of hemorrhage. To save on funeral transportation costs, Ms. Van drove three hours from Little Rock home to Fort Smith with the baby’s remains in a box on her lap.

• Chelsea Stovall, Fayetteville, was pregnant with her third child in 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned. A few weeks later, at a routine appointment, she was diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition affecting multiple vital fetal organs. Ms. Stovall and her husband wanted to say goodbye on their own terms, so they were forced to travel to Illinois for an abortion. The trip drained the family’s bank account, and at the abortion clinic, Ms. Stovall and her husband were met by protesters who called her a murderer and hurled a bloody maxi pad at her face. Raised in a conservative religious household, the experience completely changed how Ms. Stovall sees abortion–she now believes that abortion is healthcare. 

• Allison Howland, Little Rock, was surprised when, in August of 2024, her period was late. Already a mother to a 6-year-old son, Ms. Howland knew she could not be pregnant based on the last time she and her husband were intimate. But weeks earlier, while traveling for work, she woke up in her hotel room feeling shaky and terrible with no memory of how she’d gotten from the hotel restaurant to her room the night before. Ever since, she’d had an uneasy feeling that she’d been drugged, but it was not until her over-the-counter pregnancy test came up positive that she knew for certain; she had been sexually assaulted. Frantic, Ms. Howland immediately called her husband, told her family, and filed a police report. She knew right away that she wanted an abortion, but she also knew that Arkansas’ abortion ban makes no exceptions for rape or incest. She delayed traveling out of state for an abortion in hopes of producing a DNA sample to help the police identify her perpetrator. She waited for weeks, only to have the police inform her they would not be able to send anyone to Illinois to “maintain chain of custody” so she “should not bother” collecting any evidence. That’s when Ms. Howland flew to Chicago, where she received an abortion.

• Dr. Chad Taylor is a practicing OB/GYN in Little Rock who has been forced to turn multiple pregnant patients away during medical emergencies because he and his hospital colleagues were unsure whether the patient was sick enough under Arkansas’s vague and confusing abortion ban.

### 

Plaintiffs are represented by Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of Abortion in America, Morrison Foerster LLP, and Punchwork Law.

Abortion in America, a project of Hopewell Fund, is a national effort to bring greater public attention and urgency to the toll abortion bans are taking on people’s health, lives, work, and families. Abortion in America is focused on documenting and sharing personal stories, supporting and organizing people who come forward to share their experiences, and creating change with organizing, strategic partnerships, and litigation through Amplify Legal. To learn more about Abortion in America, please visit abortioninamerica.org.