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The pro-life movement scored a tremendous victory after the Oklahoma legislature successfully voted to ban nearly all abortions in the state on Tuesday. The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has pledged to sign it.
SB 612, passed by the state Senate last year, is reckoned to be one of the country’s strictest abortion bans in the nation.
Under the measure, all abortions, except in rare cases of a medical emergency or if the mother’s life is in danger, would be prohibited. Moreover, the bill goes one step further by penalizing doctors who illegally perform abortions with a $100,000 fine and 10 years in prison.
In contrast, Gov. Jared S. Polis, D-Colo., recently signed the Reproductive Health Equity Act, permitting abortion on demand and suggesting unborn babies, no matter how far long, lack any independent or derivative rights under state law.
Nonetheless, the Oklahoma House of Representatives continues to fight to guarantee our constitutional right to life after also adopting a resolution recognizing Jan. 22 as the “Day of Tears” in honor of the lives lost since the legalization of abortion in 1973.
The resolution calls on Oklahoma citizens to fly their flags at half-staff “to mourn the innocent, preborn children who have lost their lives due to abortion.”
Oklahoma now joins the multiple Republican-led states that have passed life-affirming legislation.