Oklahoma lawmakers "wanted to ban abortion, so they voted effectively to do just that -- without offering any pretense of trying to protect women's health, as supporters of other virulent anti-choice laws in states like Texas have done," a New York Times editorial states.
According to the editorial, the Oklahoma House last week "voted overwhelmingly" to approve a bill (SB 1552) that would "bar doctors from performing abortions in all cases except to save the woman's life." The editorial explains, "A doctor who violates the law would be committing a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and the loss of his or her medical license."
The state Senate approved an earlier version of the bill last March. If the state Senate approves the latest version, it will head to Gov. Mary Fallin (R), "who has signed several other measures to reduce women's access to abortion and reproductive health care in Oklahoma, where only two abortion clinics remain," the editorial states.According to the editorial, "This legislation is plainly unconstitutional, and would be struck down as quickly as earlier attempts to ban abortion outright -- which Utah and Louisiana tried in 1991." The editorial explains, "Since Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld a woman's right to an abortion."
The editorial compares the Oklahoma measure to other state efforts targeting abortion access, stating, "While other states haven't attempted an outright ban in recent years, they have managed to shut down clinics that offer abortion by imposing expensive and unnecessary staffing and facilities standards and requiring their doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals." The editorial notes that the Supreme Court soon will issue a ruling on the constitutionality of such restrictions, which "have left millions of mostly lower-income women without access to abortion and other reproductive health services."
In contrast, the "Oklahoma Legislature has chosen a different tack to block women from exercising their constitutional right," the editorial states. "And though the [Oklahoma] bill appears to criminalize only the actions of doctors, it is by no means clear that women would escape prosecution," the editorial continues, noting that women throughout the United States "who attempt to perform abortions on themselves have been charged with crimes, including murder."
According to the editorial, "For years, anti-abortion forces have relied on onerous regulations on providers to limit abortion services and lied about their true purpose because they know that a vast majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose and that the Supreme Court has affirmed that right for more than four decades." The editorial concludes, "Governor Fallin would save everyone the time and expense of litigation by vetoing the bill" (New York Times, 4/25).
