LIFE DIGEST: Oklahoma governor signs 3 pro-life bills
- Apr 13, 2010 -
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has signed three pro-life bills into law.
Henry, a Democrat, endorsed measures April 5 that prohibit sex-selection abortions, regulate the use of the abortion drug RU 486 and provide conscience protections for pro-life, health-care workers, according to The Daily Oklahoman.
Also in this edition: Kenya draft constitution loosens abortion restrictions, Pharmacist charged with murdering unborn child, and Indiana county regulates non-resident abortion doctors.
The measures previously became law as parts of bills enacted in 2008 and 2009, but County District Judge Vicki Robertson struck them down, saying they transgressed a state requirement that legislation have one subject. Each of the invalidated laws included at least two measures.
This year, pro-life legislators introduced each of the seven proposals in the rejected bills as a separate piece of legislation, The Daily Oklahoman reported.
“Each is vitally important,” said Mary Spaulding Balch, state legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
The law on RU 486 “requires the abortionist to be in the room when the abortifacient is administered,” she said. This provision is intended to protect women from what appears to be a trend of establishing satellite abortion clinics where the doctor appears on video, not in person, according to NRLC.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which opposes pro-life laws, said it would wait until the state’s legislative session is completed before deciding whether to challenge the measures in court.
“We believe they are absolutely constitutional,” said Tony Lauinger, chairman of Oklahomans for Life, according to The Daily Oklahoman. “They help to underscore the importance of defending innocent human life in every way we are able to under the current U.S. Supreme Court rulings.”
Kenya draft constitution loosens abortion restrictions
Kenya’s Parliament, with the urging of an American abortion rights advocacy organization, has approved a draft constitution that will expand abortion rights.
Though the proposed constitution says life starts at conception, it permits abortion in some circumstances, including when “the life or health of the mother is in danger,” according to the World Congress of Families. As pro-life advocates point out, an exception for the mother’s health essentially opens the door for abortion for any reason a pregnant woman asserts, such as her emotional state and the size of her family.
The revised constitution must be approved by popular vote of the Kenyan people in order to take effect.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is based in New York City, released a report in March calling for legalized abortion in Kenya, according to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.
Joseph Meaney, director of international coordination for Human Life International, said in a written statement of the change in Kenya’s Constitution, “Kenyans are pro-life! . . . When we see the new articles added to the constitution and approved by parliament under heavy pressure from Western elites, we are seeing an assault on the very heart of the Kenyan people.
“This is nothing but population control, an imperialist assault intended to rob Africa of its future by eliminating her children.”
Pharmacist charged with murdering unborn child
A Bath, N.Y., pharmacist has been charged with killing his unborn child by giving his girlfriend a drug used as part of the RU 486 regimen.
Police charged Orbin Eeli Tercero, 38, with criminal homicide of an unborn child and first-degree murder of an unborn baby March 31, according to the Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette.
Allegedly, Tercero secretly gave his girlfriend, a fellow pharmacist who was 13 weeks pregnant, misoprostol, a pill that causes a woman’s uterus to contract, expelling her baby. The woman, whose name was not disclosed, began to miscarry, and Tercero drove her to a hospital, where the miscarriage was completed.
Tercero’s girlfriend had made an appointment for an abortion but changed her mind and decided to carry the child to term.
Tercero – who supposedly stole the misoprostol pills from the pharmacy — was engaged to another women at the time of the incident, the Star-Gazette reported.
RU 486, also known as mifepristone, is used as the first part in a two-step process in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Mifepristone causes the lining of the uterus to release the embryonic child, resulting in his death. Misoprostol is taken two days after mifepristone.
Meanwhile, the body of a Queens, N.Y., man who attacked his wife with a knife when she refused to have an abortion was found April 1, according to the New York Daily News. The couple’s unborn baby was unharmed during the attack.
Fitzgerald Jolly slashed his wife’s neck and stabbed her when he learned March 30 she was pregnant and refused to have an abortion at his request. Patrona Kates, 36, shared the news of her pregnancy with her husband in a family member’s home. He attacked her in front of six children, including their 2-year-old son. When his wife’s twin, Patricia Kates, intervened, Jolly stabbed her.
Jolly fled the home, and his car was found abandoned near the Whitestone Bridge, which spans the East River and connects the New York City boroughs of Queens and The Bronx. His body was found washed ashore near the bridge.
Patrona and Patricia Kates were treated and released after a hospital stay.
Indiana county regulates non-resident abortion doctors
An Indiana county has adopted an ordinance requiring non-resident doctors to provide their contact information to local hospitals in case there are complications following their performance of an abortion.
The three commissioners of Allen County, which contains the city of Fort Wayne, unanimously passed the measure April 2, according to The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. The ordinance requires abortion doctors who live outside the county and do not have admitting privileges to local hospitals to provide the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health and the hospitals with information on how they or another doctor can be reached in case of an emergency.
The ordinance seeks to assure proper health care will be provided if there are complications after an abortion.
The law will affect George Klopfer, an Illinois osteopath who performs abortions at a Fort Wayne clinic, The News-Sentinel reported.
Another Indiana county, Vanderburgh County, approved an ordinance in 2008 requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, LifeNews.com reported.
Eleven states have laws mandating that abortion doctors must have admitting privileges at a local hospital, according to Americans United for Life. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
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