Republican Doug Cox Rips Oklahoma’s Anti-Abortion Bill — Because He Actually Understands Medicine
“We keep passing stuff like this, they’ll be done in back alleys with coat hangers, people,” said Cox during the House of Representative’s Public Health Committee hearing on the bill last week.
“[Abortions] are done in clinics inspected by the Health Department under sterile, medical conditions,” Cox continued. “This bill basically is trying to intimidate the providers who do those.”
The committee voted 7-3 to approve the bill, which will make it harder for women under 18 to obtain an abortion without parental notification. Most state parental notification laws allow for a process known as judicial bypass that allows young women who have abusive domestic situations to obtain permission from a judge to receive abortion care. The bill will now proceed to the floor of the House.
Rep. Doug Cox’s defense of Oklahoma’s most vulnerable young women, and of his fellow health care professionals who provide them with important medical services during times of great duress, was bold. Republicans have gotten in a lot of trouble recently for pushing legislation that ignores the health care needs of female victims of rape and incest. Let’s hope other Republicans follow suit, or that we can get more doctors like Dr. Cox in state legislatures.
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