The Arkansas attorney general's office says it has no objection to an anti-abortion group's request to help defend a new law banning the procedure 12 weeks into a pregnancy.
The attorney general's office on Thursday responded to the request by Concepts of Truth to intervene in the federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the new restriction.
The Wynne-based group provides counseling to women considering getting an abortion and to women who have had the procedure.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the state over the ban last month.
The groups filed the suit on behalf of Dr. Louis Jerry Edwards and Dr. Tom Tvedten, who provide abortions at a Little Rock clinic.
A hearing is scheduled May 17 over the lawsuit.