Wendi Stearman, the sponsor of the Oklahoma House bill, posted a photo of a newborn baby on Twitter to celebrate the governor’s signing of the law. “The success of this bill is a direct result of the fact that the people of Oklahoma let their representatives know that Oklahoma citizens value LIFE,” he wrote. “Keep it up, Oklahoma!”
The bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Oklahoma House with a vote of 73 to 16, after its proponents, who believe abortion is a murder, voted in favor.
Roe’s state against Wade
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What is Roe vs. Wade? Roe v. Wade is a historic Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. Judgment 7-2 was announced on January 22, 1973. Judge Harry A. Blackmun, a modest Midwestern Republican and advocate for the right to abortion, wrote the majority opinion.
What was the case? The ruling overturned the laws of many states that had banned abortion, stating that they could not ban the procedure before the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb. This point, known as fetal viability, was around 28 weeks when Roe was decided. Today, most experts estimate that it is about 23 or 24 weeks.
What else did the case do? Roe v. Wade created a framework for governing abortion regulation based on trimester of pregnancy. During the first quarter, it allowed almost no regulation. In the second, it allowed regulations to protect women’s health. In the third, it allowed states to ban abortion as long as exceptions were made to protect the life and health of the mother. In 1992, the court ruled out this framework, asserting Roe’s essential involvement.
“There can be nothing higher or more critical than defending the innocent, unborn life,” Republican State Representative Jim Olsen told the House at the time.
Abortion providers have warned that bans in Oklahoma will stress the entire region; after the ban in Texas, many women seeking abortions flooded the state border.
“We’re seeing the beginning of a domino effect that will spread across the south and midwest if Roe falls,” said Nancy Northup, president and chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Right now, Oklahoma patients are being thrown into a state of chaos and fear. That chaos will only intensify as the surrounding states also cut off access.”
Planned Parenthood noted that the day after the six-week ban came into effect in Oklahoma, the Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic was forced to cancel 35 appointments and send home 10 patients because the pregnancies were too advanced because the clinic approached them without breaking the limits of gestation of the law. .
Andrea Gallegos, executive director of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic, said she had canceled her abortion appointments this week in anticipation of the governor’s signing of the new bill. The clinic is working with the Reproductive Rights Center to file a lawsuit to overturn the ban, but does not expect the clinic to last long with the current ban.
“Abortions are what we do,” Ms. Gallegos said. “We do not offer any other service.”
In a statement following the passage of the bill, Trust Women, an abortion provider, promised that its clinics in Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kan., Would remain open to help pregnant women find services in places. ” where abortions are legal “. The group called the bill “free and cruel show of power by lawmakers against abortion.”