Oklahoma’s Resolution Calling Abortion “Murder” Is an Insult to Parents and Their Children.
On Monday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring that abortion is the “murder of unborn children” and “directing every public official in Oklahoma to exercise their authority” to stop it. The resolution accuses the U.S. Supreme Court of having “overstepped its authority and jurisdiction” by issuing decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and calls for the Oklahoma Supreme Court to stop interfering with state-passed abortion legislation. It also reminds sheriffs, district attorneys, and judges that abortion is already a criminal offense under two currently unenforceable state laws and claims that “God’s law” also prohibits abortion.
Practically, the resolution doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a bill and has no legal implications; it didn’t even get any floor debate. But its passage establishes a nice statement of purpose for a legislative body that has proposed some of the country’s most extreme punishments for abortion in recent months. Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Justin Humphrey made national news for proposing a bill that would require abortion-seeking women to get written permission from the “father of the fetus” before terminating her pregnancy. His justification for the bill was, let’s say, illuminating. “I understand that they feel like that is their body,” he said of pregnant women. “I feel like it is a separate—what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant.”
More: Oklahoma’s resolution calling abortion “murder” is an insult to parents and their children.