Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, speaks to reporters in a hallway outside the Senate chamber at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of Mayberry's bill banning most abortions starting in the 20th week, a day after the state House voted to override it. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, speaks to reporters in a hallway outside the Senate chamber at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of Mayberry's bill banning most abortions starting in the 20th week, a day after the state House voted to override it. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Julie Mayberry, right, wife of Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, center, and Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, left, sit in a gallery at the Senate chamber at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., after the Senate voted to override the governor's veto of Mayberry's bill banning most abortions in the 20th week Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, straightens his tie before speaking to reporters in a hallway outside the Senate chamber at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of Mayberry's bill banning most abortions starting in the 20th week, a day after the state House voted to override it. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, center, gets a hug from Rose Mimms, of Arkansas Right to life, left, as Mayberry's wife Julie watches outside of the Senate chamber at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The Senate voted to override the governor's veto of Mayberry's bill banning most abortions in the 20th week Thursday. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? The Arkansas Senate voted Thursday to override a veto of a near-ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy and backed a separate measure that would only allow the procedures before the 12th week, with few exceptions.
The Republican-led Senate voted 19-14 along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the 20-week bill, a day after the GOP-led state House voted to override it. A simple majority was required in each chamber.
That law, which took effect immediately, is based on the contested claim that fetuses can feel pain by that point. It includes exemptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Senate President Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, voted to override the veto, but later told reporters he wasn't sure the new law would survive a constitutional challenge.
"If it was an easy answer, then people wouldn't be raising that subject," he said after the vote.
Minutes after overriding Beebe's veto, the Senate's voted 26-8 in support of the measure that would outlaw most abortions starting in the 12th week of pregnancy. In addition to the exemptions for rape, incest and the mother's life, it would allow abortions when lethal fetal conditions are detected.
Beebe declined to say whether he'd veto the 12-week ban, and has until next week to decide. He has said he thinks it's on even shakier legal ground than the 20-week ban, which he believes contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a fetus can viably survive outside of the womb, which is typically at 22 to 24 weeks.
Beebe said Thursday's override did nothing to allay his concerns about the new abortion restrictions, including the amount of money the state will have to spend defending them.
"Nothing's changed from the standpoint of what I think the problem with the bill is," Beebe told reporters. "It's still the same problem it was before they overrode the veto."
Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said she was disappointed with the Senate's override and said her group is considering suing.
"We are going to do everything within our power to protect the health and reproductive decision-making abilities of women and in this case that includes looking very carefully at litigation," she said.
Democrats who previously voted for the 20-week ban but against the override said they did so out of deference to Beebe and the concerns the governor raised over the measure's constitutionality.
"The budget's tight. We're working on giving businesses and individuals some tax relief. I don't think it makes sense to spend money on expensive litigation," said Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, who is a co-chairman of the budget committee.
The near ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy is based on the disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain by then and therefore deserves protection from abortion. Seven states have enacted similar 20-week restrictions based on the fetal pain argument, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws affecting women's health. A similar law in Arizona has been blocked while a federal appeals court reviews a lawsuit challenging it.
The Arkansas bill is based on research the bill's sponsor, Rep. Andy Mayberry, and other abortion opponents cite that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks.
"I'm confident this will hold up to constitutional and judicial scrutiny," said Mayberry, R-Hensley.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, however, says it knows of no legitimate scientific information supporting the idea that a fetus experiences pain.
The 12-week bill is based on the argument that a fetus should be protected from abortion once its heartbeat can be detected during an abdominal ultrasound. The governor has not said whether he'll veto the bill but said earlier that he has constitutional concerns with the measure.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, the sponsor of the 12-week ban, said Beebe should let the measure go into law without his signature.
"I respect his opinions and what he has to do as an individual, but I believe he should honor the vote of the Legislature," Rapert told reporters after the vote.
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Andrew DeMillo can be reached at www.twitter.com/ademillo
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Forcing yourself to be productive is tough, but it's not just willpower and self-control that help you to get things done. You can also pull little tricks on your brain to make it work harder, like adjusting the temperature or looking at cute pictures of animals. Here are a few scientifically-backed ways to boost your productivity without even trying. 
We all have dreaded tasks on our to-do lists. While science suggests the best way to power through those awful tasks is to just get started, you can also take another approach and trick your brain into making those tasks less dreadful. This is called productive procrastination, and creativity site 99U explains how it works:
It probably comes as no surprise that your environment has a lot to do with your productivity. While we've talked about triggers in your workspace before, and temperature and lighting are big ones. In fact, as Leo Widrich points out at the Buffer blog, regulating both can provide a boon to your productivity, and you hardly have to lift a finger. Widrich points to one study from Cornell that examined temperature and productivity:
If you're the type who likes to focus in on a job, cut yourself off from the world, and power through work, it might sound counterintuitive that the ambient noise of a coffee shop can actually help you focus. As odd as it sounds, studies do show that the ambient buzz of a coffee shop makes us more productive. As The Wall Street Journal points out, it's all about hitting the right level of distraction to get that productive boost:
It's not exactly easy to take a nap in the middle of the day, but it turns out a perfectly timed nap boosts your productivity more than you'd think. The best time for a power nap is between 1:00 and 3:00 PM in the afternoon, and you should keep it at about 15 to 20 minutes for maximum benefit.
The direct effect of listening to music to boost productivity is still inconclusive, but we do know that music can increase your mood by releasing dopamine. To anyone who has cranked up their favorite song to power through a day of monotonous work this sounds like common sense, but it's possible that listening to unfamiliar music is actually better for focus. The music service Focus at Will describes it like so:
We'll end with one of the stranger research findings we've seen: looking at cute baby animals can actually improve your concentration and productivity. The study, conducted by Hiroshima University in Japan, found that looking at pleasent and cute images increases concentration. After looking at cute animals, participants in the study increased their performance in concentration tasks by an astounding 44 percent. Researchers were unclear of exactly why the pictures increased concentration, but they have a theory:![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
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