Because Oklahoma politicians love wasting time and pandering to right-wing nut jobs more than they enjoy doing anything productive in life, our legislative branch is notorious for producing unconstitutional anti-abortion bills.
Usually, these pieces of legislation aim to strip rights from Oklahomans and making it more difficult for doctors to provide often-medically necessary care. But not this time! Thanks to State Sen. David Bullard (R-Derpville), we finally we have an abortion-related bill going through that actually grants more rights.
Via KTUL…
OKLAHOMA CITY (KTUL) — The Oklahoma Senate approved the Unborn Person Wrongful Death Act Thursday.
Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, is the author of Senate Bill 1728, which modifies provisions relating to awarding damages resulting from wrongful death in cases of abortions performed under fraudulent circumstances.
The bill authorizes parents and grandparents to recover damages relating to mental pain, anguish, and pecuniary loss and holds the physician who performs the abortion fraudulently solely liable for the wrongful death.
Bullard said the bill has been a long time coming and thanked his colleagues for supporting the rights of Oklahoma’s families and remembering the innocent lives lost...
During his debate, Bullard cited that the Justice Foundation has found that up to 69% of abortions in the U.S. are performed without legal consent.
69% of abortions performed are done so without consent? Did he really get that stat from the Justice Foundation, or was it Alex Jones or The Onion. Either way, I guess its show that even made-up, false alternative facts have as sophomoric sense of humor.
Anyway, there are obviously lots of problems with this bill. First of all, it appears to grant more rights to the extended family than it does the actual women themselves. Second, this bill would essentially deter physicians from providing safe abortions out of fear that there’s going to be some nutjob in the woman’s family who will sue. It seems like Bullard has forgotten about the “mental pain” and “anguish” of those forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term…
“With the passage of Senate Bill 1728, the Senate has taken a bold step in guaranteeing Oklahoma families their constitutional right to seek recourse through legal civil action to protect their families from wrongful death. Our federal and state constitutions, as well as codified statutes, guarantee every Oklahoma the right to civil recourse of wrongful death,” Bullard said in a press release. “This bill will finally add the forgotten family members to this guaranteed protection and bring justice for the multitude of wronged families across the state. I want to thank my colleagues for their support in voting for this overdue protection that our citizens have long been deprived.”
If by “overdue protection” you mean infantilizing women and stripping them of body autonomy, you’re right. By basically forcing women to go through an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy, this bill would essentially “protect” women from the rights and responsibility to make decisions for their own health and well-being. For a group of people so hell-bent on recognizing a group of cells as a “person,” our lawmakers are really good at treating adult women like cattle.
Moo. Follow Hayley on twitter @squirrellygeek
