State representatives passed a pro-life bill that would provide unborn children the most protection of any state in the nation.
QUICK FACTS:
- Oklahoma’s state legislature has approved a pro-life bill that is thought to be the strictest bill of its kind in the nation, according to Human Events.
- If the bill is signed into law, abortion providers can be sued by private citizens if the providers assist in abortion from “any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth,” Just the News reported.
- In addition, the legislation defines “women” as “any person whose biological sex is female, including any person with XX chromosomes and any person with a uterus, regardless of any gender identity that the person attempts to assert or claim.”
- An exception to the ban are allowed in cases of rape, sexual assault, or incest when they have been reported to law enforcement or where a medical provider deems it “necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”
- “There can be nothing higher or more critical than the defense of innocent, unborn life,” State Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican, said Thursday from the floor of the Oklahoma House, where the bill passed on a 73-16 vote.
OUTRAGE FROM THE LEFT:
- “Legislation like this, on the surface, says that we are going to end abortion in our state,” said State Representative Trish Ranson, a Democrat who voted against the bill. “The manner in which it chooses to do so is punitive, it’s speculative and it draws the worst of us together.”
- “This isn’t a fire drill,” said Emily Wales, the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which has operations in Oklahoma. “This is not a rehearsal for what’s to come. We are living in this real world right now. The Supreme Court will finalize that this summer.”
- “This is part of a growing effort by ultra MAGA officials across the country to roll back the freedoms we should not take for granted,” argued Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary.
BACKGROUND:
- States across the nation have been moving to restrict access to abortion with a slew of pro-life bills making their way through state government.
- Thus far 11 states have signed a “heartbeat bill” into law, including Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas.
