{"id":38361,"date":"2016-05-19T19:30:39","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T23:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=38361"},"modified":"2016-05-19T19:45:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T23:45:01","slug":"oklahoma-legislature-passes-bill-making-it-a-felony-to-perform-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=38361","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma legislature passes bill making it a felony to perform abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><span class=\"pb-byline\">By Mark Berman<\/span> <span class=\"pb-timestamp\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<article>\n<div class=\"inline-content inline-video\">\n<div id=\"player-12eb6604-1e0a-11e6-82c2-a7dcb313287d-465978\" class=\"posttv-video-embed wpv-player wpv-processed\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-category-id=\"segments\" data-duration=\"67000\" data-headline=\"Oklahoma bill would make performing abortions a felony\" data-is-truth-teller=\"0\" data-max-height=\"-1\" data-max-width=\"-1\" data-object-id=\"573e3269e4b0f0ecbae23a45\" data-show-endscreen=\"1\" data-show-promo=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/posttv-thumbnails-prod\/thumbnails\/573e3269e4b0f0ecbae23a45\/okcapitol_reuters_thumb.jpg\" data-uuid=\"12eb6604-1e0a-11e6-82c2-a7dcb313287d\" data-variants=\"0\" data-video-360=\"0\" data-youtube-id=\"zY8ib47UDsg\" data-auto-init=\"0\" data-auto-play=\"1\" data-loading-screen=\"blackout\" data-has-been-visible=\"true\">\n<div class=\"wpv-overlay\">\n<div class=\"wpv-masthead\">\n<h3 class=\"wpv-headline franklin-light\">Oklahoma bill would make performing abortions a felony<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<h5><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/12eb6604-1e0a-11e6-82c2-a7dcb313287d\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<span class=\"pb-caption\">Here&#8217;s what you need to know about a piece of legislation passed in the Oklahoma House and Senate May 19 that would make it illegal for doctors to perform abortions that weren&#8217;t necessary to save the life of the mother. (Sarah Parnass\/The Washington Post)<\/span><\/h5>\n<p>Lawmakers in Oklahoma approved a bill Thursday that would make performing abortions a felony and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/morning-mix\/wp\/2016\/04\/23\/this-is-our-proper-function-oklahoma-advances-measure-to-revoke-licenses-of-doctors-that-perform-abortions\/\" target=\"_blank\">revoke\u00a0the medical licenses<\/a> of most\u00a0physicians who assist in such procedures.<\/p>\n<p>This sweeping measure, which opponents described as unconstitutional and unprecedented, now heads to\u00a0Gov. Mary Fallin (R). She\u00a0will have five days \u2014 not including Sunday \u2014 to decide whether to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without her signature,\u00a0according to a spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe governor will withhold comment on that bill, as she does on most bills, until she and her staff have had a chance to review it,\u201d Michael McNutt, a spokesman for Fallin, said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>The Oklahoma bill is the first such measure of its kind, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which says that other states seeking to ban abortion have simply banned the procedure rather than attaching penalties like this.<\/p>\n<p>According to the measure, known as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2015-16%20ENR\/SB\/SB1552%20ENR.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">SB1552<\/a>, a person\u00a0who performs or induces an abortion will be guilty of a felony and punished with between one and three years in the state penitentiary.\u2019<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38365\" style=\"width: 345px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38365\" class=\"wp-image-38365\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d-715x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, left, has not said if she plans to sign the bill. (Sue Ogrocki\/Associated Press)\" width=\"335\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d-715x1024.jpg 715w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d-768x1100.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Prescription_Drug_Database-08b5d.jpg 908w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-38365\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, left, has not said if she plans to sign the bill. (Sue Ogrocki\/Associated Press)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This legislation also says that any physician who participates in an abortion \u2014 deemed \u201cunprofessional conduct\u201d in the bill \u2014 will be \u201cprohibited from obtaining or renewing a license to practice medicine in this state.\u201d However, medical licenses will not be stripped from doctors who perform abortions deemed necessary to save the mother\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"interstitial-link\"><i>[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2016\/05\/04\/yes-hospitals-do-abortions-this-washington-doctor-says-her-hospital-forces-her-to-keep-it-quiet\/\">Yes, hospitals perform abortions. This D.C. doctor says her hospital won\u2019t let her talk about it<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The bill passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives with a vote of 59-to-9 last month. On Thursday, the state\u2019s senate passed it with a vote of 33-to-12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince I believe life begins at conception, it should be protected, and I believe it\u2019s a core function of state government to defend that life from the beginning of conception,\u201d\u00a0State Sen.\u00a0Nathan Dahm, a Republican who represents\u00a0Tulsa County, told the <a href=\"http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/13bac300a736477f9a776adb575e9412\" target=\"_blank\">Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dahm said he hopes the Oklahoma measure could eventually lead to the overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman\u2019s right to an abortion.<\/p>\n<p>Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, \u00a0said last mont that the Oklahoma bill is \u201ca ban on abortion, plain and simple.\u201d The legislation\u00a0sent to Fallin on Thursday \u201cis reckless and dangerous,\u201d according to Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis bill puts doctors in the cross hairs for providing women with the option of exercising our fundamental right to decide how and when to start a family,\u201d Hogue said in a statement. \u201cAnd it creates penalties for doctors doing their jobs: performing a safe and legal medical procedure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Oklahoma State Medical Association, which has called the measure \u201ctroubling,\u201d has said it would not take a position on the legality of abortion as long as the practice remains legal. However, the group said it was opposed to \u201clegislation that is designed to intimidate physicians or override their medical judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the group reiterated that opposition, calling it \u201cone more insulting slap in the face of our state\u2019s medical providers\u201d and urging\u00a0Fallin to veto the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are extremely disappointed in today\u2019s vote,\u201d Sherri Baker, president of the medical association, said in a statement Thursday. \u201cIt is simply unconscionable that, at a time when our state already faces a severe physician shortage, the senate would waste its time on a bill that is patently unconstitutional and whose only purposes are to score political points and intimidate physicians across this state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the measure was debated in the state\u2019s House of Representatives, a legislator who\u00a0ultimately voted\u00a0against the bill pointed to this statement and voiced\u00a0concerns that the law could lead to doctors abandoning Oklahoma. But one of the bill\u2019s co-sponsors said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/morning-mix\/wp\/2016\/04\/23\/this-is-our-proper-function-oklahoma-advances-measure-to-revoke-licenses-of-doctors-that-perform-abortions\/\" target=\"_blank\">he did not think it would have an impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-content inline-video\">\n<p>Since taking office in 2011, Fallin has signed more than a dozen bills restricting\u00a0access to reproductive health care, the\u00a0Center for Reproductive Rights, a nonprofit legal group, said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The new bill \u201cis blatantly unconstitutional and, if it takes effect, it will be the most extreme abortion law in this country\u201d since the Roe v Wade decision, Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel at the center, wrote in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reproductiverights.org\/sites\/crr.civicactions.net\/files\/documents\/ok_sb_1552_veto_letter_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a letter<\/a>\u00a0to Fallin on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Allen said her group was urging\u00a0Fallin to veto the legislation, which she said was part of a larger pattern of lawmakers in the state chipping away at abortion rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolicymakers in Oklahoma should focus on advancing policies that will truly promote women\u2019s health and safety, not abortion restrictions that do just the opposite,\u201d Allen wrote. \u201cAnti-choice politicians in the state have methodically restricted access to abortion and neglected to advance policies that truly address the challenges women and families face every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Allen\u00a0also said that the bill would \u201calmost certainly lead to expensive court challenges that the state of Oklahoma simply cannot defend in light of longstanding Supreme Court precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"f0D7ID1lzoqFLp\" class=\"moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal full pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-page-newsletter-inLine\" data-chain-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-id=\"page\/newsletter-inLine\"><\/div>\n<p>Fallin has until next week to make a decision on the bill. If this measure\u00a0does\u00a0become law, it would go into\u00a0effect on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2016\/05\/19\/oklahoma-legislature-passes-bill-making-it-a-felony-to-perform-abortions\/\">http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2016\/05\/19\/oklahoma-legislature-passes-bill-making-it-a-felony-to-perform-abortions\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}