Senate Bill 1878, authored by Rep. Pam Peterson (R-Tulsa) and Rep. Todd Lamb (R-Edmond), which thankfully Gov. Brad Henry vetoed yesterday, would have required anyone seeking to terminate a pregnancy to have an ultrasound within one hour before the procedure.
Oklahoma legislation has stooped to a new low, in my opinion.
Why?
Well, according to the Oklahoma House of Representatives’ website, Senate Bill 1878 “provides a woman with an ultrasound of her unborn child which she can view prior to undergoing the abortion”, which sounds fairly innocuous and more like a much requested service finally being made available. But then you read further into Senate Bill 1878 and you find (according to the Tulsa World):
If it became law, the measure would require women or girls who seek abortions to undergo ultrasounds within one hour of the procedures.
It would require that the images be displayed so that the patient could see them. It also would require the examiner to provide a medical description of the images, including dimensions of the embryo or fetus and the presence of cardiac activity.
That’s a whole horse of a different color, my friends.
“Providing” is a far cry from “requiring to undergo“.
So what are you thinking, Pam? Shock these women/girls out of going through with it? Shame them out of it? Guilt trip them out of it? Do you really mean to imply these women/girls don’t know the gravity of their decision or haven’t seriously thought it through? Maybe you think they’ve just been out there screwing their brains out willy-nilly thinking all along that if they end up pregnant, no biggie, they can just go get an abortion. Come on, Pam. Really?
“The legislation enacts several common-sense reforms respecting the sanctity of life that have been embraced by members of both political parties,” says Ms. Peterson. “The more information a woman can have before making this life-altering decision, the better.”
Excuse me, Pam, but if you’re requiring an ultrasound within an hour before an abortion – you’re not trying to inform before the life-altering decision is made. If that were the case, you’d require this earlier in the process, before the decision has been made, not at the last minute. Instead, you’re trying to change the decision that’s already been made…with manipulative and emotionally abusive tactics, at that.
How do you tout “sanctity of life” with no more regard than this for the living?
Wow, within 24 hours they managed to override the veto. I’d read about the governor’s veto on the grounds that there is no exemption even for rape or incest, but I hadn’t read that they’d overturned the veto after that until I read your post, and it saddens me. It disgusts me that someone like Pam Peterson also twists words to make it sound like the governor was making it so that rape or incest victims would not be able to have an ultrasound if they wanted one instead of what he was saying that they shouldn’t be forced to have one (though could have one if they wished). She’s a piece of work. Scary.
Hey Suzanne, I think you hit the nail on the head here. It’s one thing to hold your own views — but when we start to impose them on everyone there’s going to be trouble.
One thing that we-the-people get to do (and I think sometimes we forget that we can) is to change laws that really don’t serve ALL the people or reflect a narrow, partisan view of how things “oughtta” be. (You want it? Fine. Go live that way. But don’t force ME to, if I don’t believe the same thing. It’s the live-and-let-live principle. Seems we’ve forgotten it lately.)
Oh and one more thing? I notice that it’s more important than ever to find out what your local, regional/county and state government is up to. That way we-the-people can make our voices heard — and bring pressure to bear where it most counts — *before* the votes are cast. It’s so messy to undo it all later. But that’s what we’re left with sometimes.
Never forget the power of standing clearly in your own belief and simply saying what is true for you. . . sometimes it gives other people courage.
Go get ’em gals! I’m with ya on this one!
Maggie – yes, I was disheartened to see it be overridden yesterday, too. And ‘spin’ is everything in politics, so it doesn’t surprise me how different the ‘spin’ for this bill was as compared to what it actually said.
Nancy – I debated long and hard yesterday about whether to even post this or not – but I’m glad I did. What swayed me is exactly the same thought you expressed at the end of your comment: “Never forget the power of standing clearly in your own belief and simply saying what is true for you. . . sometimes it gives other people courage.”
I could lament that I didn’t learn of this “in time” but I won’t because everything happens in it’s perfect time. Maybe the point here was to get my attention.
You’re absolutely right when you said “it’s more important than ever to find out what your local, regional/county and state government is up to. That way we-the-people can make our voices heard — and bring pressure to bear where it most counts — *before* the votes are cast.”
Thanks to you both for stepping out and sharing your thoughts and views.
I was not surprised at all, they want these girls to carry these babies to full term. That will make the pool of adoptable children bigger and keep the federal funds from the Social Security Administration flowing in.