Oklahoma Seeks to Strengthen Protection for the Unborn – Update

Killing one’s own unborn baby is an extreme and permanent decision. The younger the pregnant mother, the more introspection and guidance she needs before choosing whether to have her own child slaughtered in her womb. Convenience now, deep and lasting regret later.

Informed consent and waiting period laws are two common-sense measures to give women and girls time to think. When liberals say these are simply ways to stop abortion, they’re right.

On Monday, an Oklahoma Senate committee approved a bill passed in the House to increase the 24-hour waiting period for abortions to 72 hours. The changes would also require killing centers to include on their web sites a link to Oklahoma’s A Woman’s Right to Know site and inform abortion seekers that their decision will end the life of a “whole, separate, unique, living human being.”

“In Oklahoma, we have a waiting period for divorce of 10 days,” Sen. Greg Treat, one of the bill’s authors, said. “If there are minor children it is 90 days. We should also take it very seriously when we’re talking about the irrevocable decision of abortion.”

Abortion advocate Amanda Allen called the measures “insulting and demeaning hurdles to obtaining a safe and legal abortion.”

Someone must speak for the voiceless unborn, and any law that prolongs the decision to terminate the life of a human being — particularly for on-demand, convenience abortions — is a big step in the right direction.

The state’s legislature also passed a ban on dismemberment abortions during the second trimester, in which the unborn child is torn apart in the womb. If the bill becomes law, abortionists can no longer use forceps, scissors, or similar death instruments on a living baby.

Abortion advocate Elizabeth Nash correctly notes that such bans reduce access to second trimester abortions. “This is a huge overstep by politicians into the medical practice,” she said.

Perhaps more women in Oklahoma will choose to protect their babies and either keep them or entrust them to families who want them.

Update: Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas has signed into law a bill that bans second trimester dismemberment abortions.

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