Oklahoma is now one step away from criminalizing abortion statewide.
Senate Bill 1552, sponsored by Senator Nathan Dahm (R- Broken Arrow), would make it a felony for doctors to perform abortions, except when the mother’s life is threatened. The Oklahoma state Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation Thursday by a vote of 33-12, and then sent it to Governor Mary Fallin’s desk for her signature. Oklahoma’s House had already passed the bill last month by an even more overwhelming vote of 59-9.
According to the official website of Oklahoma’s state legislature, SB 1552 would consider abortion “unprofessional conduct,” and would revoke or prohibit the licensing, or renewal of a license, to doctors performing the procedure. It could also result in a punishment of up to three years in prison for those doctors who choose not to comply.
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Not surprisingly, pro-abortion groups such as the Center for Reproductive Rights adamantly oppose the bill. Amanda Allen, an attorney for the organization, laments Oklahoma’s consistent pursuit for the protection of the unborn, calling this law “a new low.” She adds, “The Center for Reproductive Rights is closely watching this bill and we strongly urge Governor Fallin to reject this cruel and unconstitutional ban.”
But how is it cruel to ban abortion? Is it not cruel to kill innocent human life in the mother’s womb?
Regarding the bill’s constitutionality, SB 1552 is based on the 10th Amendment, which states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Paul Blair — pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, a member of the pro-life organization Protect Life and Marriage OK, and a candidate for the Oklahoma state senate — told The New American:
Among those powers reserved to the states are the standards for licensing doctors to practice medicine within the borders of each state. Medical licensing is clearly a “state” issue. There is no such thing as a Federal Doctor’s License. Each state is free to determine standards of behavior.
Since doctors take an oath to intentionally do no harm to a patient, it is reasonable for the Oklahoma Legislature to expect and insist that Doctors honor that oath and do no intentional harm either to mother or child.
According to Blair, Attorney Richard Mast of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit constitutional litigation firm with offices in Orlando, Florida; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Washington, D.C., confirmed:
SB 1552 is constitutional, and is an appropriate regulation of physician licensure and professional conduct, consistent with the obligation of the State of Oklahoma to protect human life. While respecting and protecting the rights of women in danger from life threatening conditions, the bill makes the performance of an “abortion” (defined as any abortion outside the bill’s exception for “an abortion necessary to preserve the life of the mother”) grounds for revocation or denial of physician licensure.
Having previously passed in the House, the final step for this bill is the governor’s signature. Blair notes, “Governor Fallin prides herself as being 100% pro-life and has promised when running for office that she would sign all pro-life bills that come across her desk. We expect her to be a woman of her word.”
Sources tell The New American that Gov. Fallin’s office identifies this as a pro-life bill, and that she is expected to sign the bill “within days.”
If, indeed, Gov. Fallin is “a woman of her word,” this will be the first law of its kind in the nation, making the Oklahoma legislature pioneers in the pro-life effort.
Representative David Brumbaugh, co-author of the bill, asked,
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?
He added,
The last time I looked, that’s why I thought we had a separation of power. It’s not about policy. It’s not about politics. It’s about principle.
Protect Life and Marriage OK is a community of activists, from legislators to homemakers, who have come together in support of natural, traditional marriage and the protection of the unborn. Networking with over 1,100 pastors and having a Facebook following of over 22,000, the organization has worked to successfully promote and bring attention to SB 1552. Its motto is, “Legally we can; morally we must.”
With its strong moral backbone, it’s no surprise that Oklahoma is in the forefront of the abortion fight. Pro-lifers have hope that the Sooner State will not be standing alone in its noble venture, but will lead other states out of their misinformed comfort zones and into the fight for life.
