Strict Abortion Measures Enacted in Oklahoma

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/us...er=rss&emc=rss

Strict Abortion Measures Enacted in Oklahoma
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
HOUSTON — The Oklahoma Legislature voted Tuesday to override the governor’s vetoes of two abortion measures, one of which requires women to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before getting an abortion.

Though other states have passed similar measures requiring women to have ultrasounds, Oklahoma’s law goes further, mandating that a doctor or technician set up the monitor so the woman can see it and describe the heart, limbs and organs of the fetus. No exceptions are made for rape and incest victims.

A second measure passed into law on Tuesday prevents women who have had a disabled baby from suing a doctor for withholding information about birth defects while the child was in the womb.

Opponents argue that the law will protect doctors who purposely mislead a woman to keep her from choosing an abortion. But the bill’s sponsors maintain that it merely prevents lawsuits by people who wish, in hindsight, that the doctor had counseled them to abort a disabled child.

Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, vetoed both bills last week. The ultrasound law, he said, was flawed because it did not exempt rape and incest victims and would allow an unconstitutional intrusion into a woman’s privacy.

Of the other measure, Mr. Henry said, “It is unconscionable to grant a physician legal protection to mislead or misinform pregnant women in an effort to impose his or her personal beliefs on a patient.”

The Republican majorities in both houses, however, saw things differently. On Monday, the House voted overwhelmingly to override the vetoes, and the Senate followed suit on Tuesday morning, making the two measures law.

“This is a good day for the cause of life,” said State Senator Glenn Coffee, the Republican majority leader. “The voice of the people has spoken twice now this session in the Senate and twice in the House, and I sincerely hope those who would reverse the people’s voice would think twice before acting.”

Both of the laws enacted Tuesday over the governor’s objections were first passed in 2008 in an omnibus bill, along with several other anti-abortion measures. But state courts struck down the measure on a technicality, because it violated a clause in the Oklahoma Constitution requiring bills to deal with a single subject.

This year, Republican leaders broke the omnibus bill into pieces to satisfy the courts’ concerns, passing several separate anti-abortion measures. Mr. Henry has signed two into law: a measure requiring clinics to post signs stating that a woman cannot be forced to have an abortion, and another making it illegal to have an abortion because of the sex of a child.

Two other anti-abortion bills are still working their way through the Legislature and are expected to pass. One would force women to fill out a lengthy questionnaire about their reasons for seeking an abortion; statistics based on the answers would then be posted online. The other restricts insurance coverage for the procedures.

Taken together, the various pieces of legislation would make Oklahoma one of the most prohibitive environments in the United States for women seeking to end a pregnancy, advocates for women and family planning said.

“These laws all have the same goal, and that’s to discourage women from seeking abortions in the first place,” said Anita Fream, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma. “They just throw down one roadblock after another in front of women and hope maybe they will give up.”

Just hours after the vote, the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization based in New York that advocates for abortion rights, went to state court to challenge the ultrasound law as unconstitutional. It argued that the law violates the doctor’s freedom of speech, the woman’s right to equal protection and the woman’s right to privacy, said the group’s president, Nancy Northup.

Several states have passed laws in recent years requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, and at least three — shitville, Louisiana and Mississippi — require doctors to offer the woman a chance to see the image. But Oklahoma’s new law says that the monitor must be placed where the woman can see it and that she must listen to a detailed description of the fetus.

“The goal of this legislation is just to make a statement for the sanctity of human life,” State Senator Todd Lamb, the majority floor leader, said in an interview after the vote. “Maybe someday these babies will grow up to be police officers and arrest bad people, or will find a cure for cancer.”


Hailey Branson contributed reporting from Oklahoma City.