|
|
|
|
Oklahoma Senate Passes Five More
Pro-Life Bills
By Dave Andrusko Second only to careful planning and inspired leadership, what makes passage of pro-life legislation possible is patient persistence. It would be hard to find a better example than in Oklahoma where pro-lifers refused to buckle under when victory was snatched away based on arbitrary judicial decisions invalidating laws enacted laws enacted in 2008 and 2009. Yesterday, despite feverish pro-abortion opposition, the Oklahoma Senate passed five more pro-life bills. Three of the bills have been sent to Gov. Brad Henry and the other two have returned to the House for acceptance of Senate amendments.
TN&V readers will remember that on April 5 Oklahoma passed three other pro-life bills [www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/April10/nv040510.html]. Those banned sex-selection abortions, regulated the use of RU 486, and affirmed the right of health care professionals not to participate in abortions or other actions that cause the destruction of an innocent human life. All of these pro-life provisions had been passed previously but invalidated by the courts which ruled they violated the state's "single-subject" rule. Yesterday's bills include HB 2780, an important addition to help women make truly informed decisions. The bill provides a woman with an ultrasound of her unborn child which she may view prior to undergoing an abortion. "The information gained from the ultrasound could spare the mother a lifetime of psychological anguish," said Tony Lauinger, state chairman of Oklahomans For Life. "Ignorance isn't bliss, where life-or-death matters are concerned. And ignorance isn't forever. Someday she'll see an ultrasound -- in a magazine, on television, on a friend's refrigerator. Better that she see it before undertaking an irrevocable, lethal act." A second bill addresses the information vacuum surrounding abortion. HB 3284 provides that abortions be reported, including the reasons the abortion was sought and any complications. HB 2656 disallows the ugly practice of "wrongful-life" lawsuits, which start from the premise that a baby with disabilities would have been better off aborted. HB 3075 deals with a truth that crisis pregnancies centers know all too well and the wider public not at all. Many abortions are not in any sense "voluntary." HB 3075 safeguards against coerced abortions. One new bill, made necessary because of ObamaCare, is pending. There is a provision in the new health-care law that allows states to opt out of abortion coverage in the state-based insurance "exchanges" created by the law. (See http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/April10/nv040810.html) HB 3290, based on National Right to Life's model statute, prohibits all health plans offered through the state Exchange in Oklahoma from including coverage for elective abortions. Please be sure to read www.nationalrightolifenews.org and send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. |
