Anti-abortion bills may be challenged

Anti-abortion members of the Oklahoma legislature and rewriting legislation that has been struck down by the courts.  Below is the chart included with this article, outlining recent anti-abortion measures by the State of Oklahoma.

According to State Representative Benge of Tulsa, "Our motivation is the respect and sanctity of life in the womb,” said Benge, R-Tulsa. "We’ve been very vocal and out front about how important we think that is."

ANTI-ABORTION MEASURES
Seven bills are advancing through the legislative session. They are similar to those contained in two bills that were passed earlier by the Legislature but were ruled unconstitutional by the courts because the measures each contained more than one subject. The Senate bills have passed a House committee and are awaiting action by the full House of Representatives and the House bills have passed a Senate committee and are awaiting action by the full Senate.

Bills that are similar to measures contained in the 2009 law are:
• Senate Bill 1890 would forbid an abortion based solely on the sex of the child.
• House Bill 3284 would require doctors to report detailed information about abortions to the state Health Department, including the age, marital status and education level of patients.

Bills that are similar to measures contained in the 2008 law are:
• Senate Bill 1891 would protect employees who refuse to participate in abortions.
• SB 1902 would make it illegal for a person other than a qualified physician who is physically present to administer the chemical abortion pill, RU-486, for the purposes of inducing an abortion.
• House Bill 2780 would require a woman be given a description of ultrasound images of her unborn child and be offered those images before getting an abortion.
• HB 3075 would require certain signs to be displayed in an abortion clinic.
• HB 2656 would ban lawsuits that claim a baby would have been better off aborted.