Page:Arkansas Women's Political Caucus v. Riviere.pdf/8

470 public policy. Unless the people stray beyond the bounds of reasonable constitutional interpretation, we should not hurl our constitutional thunderbolts. 

D H, Justice, dissenting. Because of the nationwide emotionalism surrounding the subject of this case, it is easy to lose sight of the only issue for us at this time: whether the ballot title is misleading, deceptive or dishonest.

Presently in this country there is a national debate on the question of abortion. It has polarized the two major political parties and their candidates for president. Various groups have thrown down the gauntlet on the issue and some of them are represented in this action. It is in this atmosphere that a proposal comes to us to change the Arkansas Constitution through the machinery provided in Amendment 7, the last remaining vestige of power directly retained by the people. Only this court can interfere with that right, and we should only do so in cases of deceptive or misleading statements on the ballot.

Our sole concern at this time is the legal sufficiency of the ballot title. As the majority has found, I agree that the ballot title itself pulls no punches, sugars no phrases and is an honest statement of the proposed amendment. The popular name, "The Unborn Child Amendment," however, is found by the majority to be "politically colored." I dissent because in no way is the popular name deceptive since that is precisely what the amendment is about. The popular name cannot, if it is to serve any useful purpose to the voter, be more than a statement of the subject matter of the amendment, and this amendment is about children that have not yet been born. It does not and should not contain every provision of a proposed law.

"Unborn child" is a catch phrase and partisan only if one is persuaded to join this fray between ideological, social and legal opposites. In Pafford v. Hall, 217 Ark. 735, 233 S.W.2d 72 (1950), we reviewed a ballot title called "A Statewide Prohibition Act." Prohibition is a catch phrase if any word is. The word "prohibition" is not an offensive or persuasive word in itself, and its use was not found to be