OKLAHOMA: Liberty Counsel Takes Credit For Pending Criminalization Of Abortion, Offers To Defend Law UPDATE: The Governor Has VETOED The Bill

Major update below! Via press release:

Yesterday the Oklahoma Senate passed a bill 33-12 that would allow for the revocation of medical licenses for doctors who perform abortions on demand. The measure has an exception to save the life of the mother. SB 1552, which previously passed in the House 59-9, now heads to Governor Mary Fallin for consideration.

SB 1552 was authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm. Yet this legislation was initiated by a local pastor, Paul Blair, with the support and guidance of Liberty Counsel.

“Life begins at conception. Preborn children are in fact children, not merely fetuses, and their lives should be protected from the moment of conception,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “This bill is a very positive step toward affirming the value of human life by taking away ability to murder children. Liberty Counsel stands ready to defend this legislature if it is challenged,” said Staver.

Note that Staver fails to mention that the bill calls for imprisoning abortion providers.

From Fallin’s veto statement:



Governor Mary Fallin, who has a long history of championing and signing pro-life and pro-family legislation, today vetoed a measure that would have banned abortion in the state because the bill was vague and would not withstand a criminal constitutional legal challenge.

Fallin is the most pro-life governor in the nation. She has signed 18 bills supporting pro-life values and protecting the health and lives of mothers and their unborn children.

Senate Bill 1552 would have made it a felony for physicians to perform abortions. It also contained a provision to revoke their medical licenses unless the abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother.

“The bill is so ambiguous and so vague that doctors cannot be certain what medical circumstances would be considered ‘necessary to preserve the life of the mother,’” Fallin said.

“The absence of any definition, analysis or medical standard renders this exception vague, indefinite and vulnerable to subjective interpretation and application,” she wrote in her veto message.

“While I consistently have and continue to support a re-examination of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, this legislation cannot accomplish that re-examination,” Fallin wrote. “In fact, the most direct path to a re-examination of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade is the appointment of a conservative, pro-life justice to the United States Supreme Court.”