Oklahoma is already at the top of the Americans United for Life, annual list, which ranks states on their protection of life. Now a bill that landed on Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk Thursday is making headlines nationwide.le
SB 1552, authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm and Sen. David Brumbaugh, directs the Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision and State Board of Osteopathic Examiners to revoke the medical licenses of doctors who perform abortions.
Under a bill passed by the legislature this week, doctors who perform abortions — defined in the measure as “unprofessional conduct” — would be barred from obtaining or renewing their medical licenses. The bill, now on the governor’s desk, would not apply to abortions performed to save a mother’s life, although the bill lacks similar exceptions for abortions performed in cases of rape or incest.
Abortion advocates are already crying foul, and the Center for Reproductive Rights’ Amanda Allen, Senior State Legislative Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights issued this statement on behalf of the abortion rights group:
Oklahoma politicians have made it their mission year after year to restrict women’s access vital health care services, yet this total ban on abortion is a new low. When abortion is illegal, women and their health, futures, and families suffer.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is closely watching this bill and we strongly urge Governor Fallin to reject this cruel and unconstitutional ban.
Of course abortion advocates don’t see that what is actually cruel is ripping living preborn babies, who have never been given a voice or a choice, from the womb.
The Center for Reproductive Rights adds:
There are only two providers of safe and legal abortion in Oklahoma and women in the state face myriad obstacles when attempting to access reproductive health care.
Gov. Fallin’s signature on SB 1552 would also likely hinder abortionist Julie Burkhart from her plans to open a third Oklahoma abortion facility. Burkhart’s abortion center is already in the construction process.
The Center for Reproductive Rights points out that “[t]he U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held… that women have a constitutional right to decide whether to end or continue a pregnancy and states cannot ban abortion prior to viability.” SB 1552, however, does not alter a woman’s right; it simply deals with physicians’ behavior and those who are committed to protecting life and bringing healing who then act in a manner inconsistent with that commitment.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Brumbaugh, faced opposition in the House before the bill finally passed 59-9, with 33 not voting. Some House members were concerned about the law being overturned in the judicial system, but Brumbaugh said:
Do we make laws because they’re moral and right, or do we make them based on what an unelected judicial occupant might question or want to overturn? The last time I looked, that’s why I thought we had a separation of power. If we take care of the morality, God will take care of the economy.
