Oklahoma tried to put yet another unconstitutional pin in a woman’s right to choose whether or not to bear children.
As a woman of childbearing age, I am sick and tired of a bunch of judgmental men in the government trying to legally mandate what I can and cannot do with my body.
The Oklahoma legislature passed a bill basically banning abortions by forcing felony charges on doctors who perform them and revoking their medical licenses.
This year alone, many other states have tried to outlaw abortion at 20 weeks, to ban the abortion procedure used on patients in their second trimester and to shut down clinics that are not up to specific medical standards.
Now, Oklahoma is going for gold in trying to pass the most unconstitutional burden to abortions.
Not surprisingly, the Oklahoma legislature is predominantly Republican and the bill passed by an overwhelming margin of 33 to 12.
Interestingly, the bill will be presented to Gov. Mary Fallin who is also a Republican.
Fallin will have five days to decide whether she wants to sign or veto it before it will take effect without her signature, which seems illegal but, unfortunately, is not.
As reported by the New York Times, legal experts say because the Supreme Court has consistently ruled a woman has the right to abort her fetus until the fetus is viable outside the womb, the law will soon be declared unconstitutional.
Yes, the law will be challenged as soon as it goes into effect, no doubt. Yes, the Supreme Court will no doubt declare the law unconstitutional because it is one of the most glaringly unconstitutional attempts to burden a woman’s right to choose. But no, that’s not even the most upsetting part of this whole fiasco.
The most upsetting part is most of the people who voted for this bill are men who do not have the ability to produce children with their bodies and are easily able to opt out of caring for the children they help create.
I know I’m not alone when I say men should not be able to decide whether or not women should be able to abort their fetuses.
If you don’t have the anatomy and the ability to have children, you don’t get to have a majority vote on government legislation about said ability to have children.
It just doesn’t make sense that a majority of men get to decide what half of the population can and cannot do when men can’t do it themselves.
I’m speaking strictly governmentally. When it comes to personal relationships between men and women, I think women should have the final say but people can do whatever they want.
Roe v. Wade is not a Supreme Court mistake. Roe v. Wade legalized a procedure that lead to the loss of thousands of women’s lives because of its illegality.
In reality, that decision is not an evil one that kills babies, it saves the lives of women who can’t have children at the moment for whatever reason.
To me, Roe v. Wade is one of the best legal decisions the Supreme Court has ever made and it should continue to be upheld and unchallenged.
rcm2@umail.iu.edu
@RachelCMiller1
