Impoverished Women Targeted By Anti-Abortion Bill

The Oklahoma Legislature continued its relentless assault on the state’s impoverished women Tuesday when it passed a measure that prohibits the use of state money or facilities to perform the abortion procedure.

Senate Bill 714, sponsored by state Sen. James Williamson (R-Tulsa), was passed by the House and will now go back to the Senate where it’s expected to be approved.

The measure will still allow a state-funded abortion to preserve the life of the mother.

The bill is one of many anti-abortion bills introduced in the legislature this session. Will Gov. Brad Henry sign the bill? He signed four anti-abortion bills last year, of course, but if he wants to veto this bill he will have the medical community on his side. The Oklahoma State Medical Association opposes the bill.

Oklahoma is fast becoming a state with some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation.

But the larger view about the abortion issue in Oklahoma is this: Those women with the financial resources can always leave the state and obtain a discreet, safe abortion. For impoverished women, especially those with health problems, this could be problematic. This law could force some Oklahoma women to seek out back-alley abortions.

Our state government is openly attacking poor women. What else is new, right? If you’re rich, you can fly to California to get an abortion. If you’re poor, you probably don’t even have the money to travel to nearby states.

Some brave souls in the legislature spoke out against the bill before the vote, but the state’s Republicans, the religious right and The Daily Oklahoman have become a powerful, perhaps insurmountable force on the anti-abortion issue. They manipulate narrow-minded voters to forget about their stagnant wages or lack of health insurance and instead focus their limited attention spans on emotional appeals about the “unborn” and “right to life.”

Thus, many Oklahoma parents vote against their children’s futures by electing narrow-minded legislators as they bask briefly in the emotional hubris of a fleeting, sanctimonious thrill.

Obviously, Oklahoma is not the end of the world. It’s definitely not a first-step state that sets political trends. The abortion procedure is available for women who can leave here. The operative word here is “leave.” What’s left is more poverty for the state and more narrow-minded people. The cycle continues.

Oklahoma is at a political crossroads. As the nation comes to its senses over the lack of Republican oversight of abusive presidential power and the narrow agenda of the religious right, our state continues to create and exploit one-issue voters who damage our prospects.

Those people against abortion shouldn’t have one, and no law will ever make them have one, but they have no right to impose their narrow views on society.