LIFE DIGEST: Oklahoma lawmakers override vetoes
- Apr 27, 2010 -
The Oklahoma legislature finished April 27 overriding vetoes of two pro-life bills, only four days after Gov. Brad Henry had rejected them.
The Senate voted 36-12 on both measures, according to The Daily Oklahoman. One of the bills requires an ultrasound before an abortion, and the other protects a doctor from a “wrongful birth” lawsuit for failing to persuade the mother to have an abortion. The latter is designed to protect unborn babies who are diagnosed with disabilities and might be considered by some to be better off dead.
Also in this edition: Canadian Parliament defeats assisted suicide bill, China county seeks nearly 10,000 forced sterilizations, and Killer of pro-lifer sentenced to life in prison.
The Senate actions enacting the bills came a day after the House of Representatives voted to override the vetoes. The House voted 81-14 for the ultrasound legislation and 84-12 for the “wrongful birth” measure, The Oklahoma reported.
In addition to vetoing the two bills April 23, Henry signed into law a bill seeking to protect pregnant women from being coerced into abortions.
On April 5, Henry, a Democrat, signed three pro-life bills. He endorsed measures 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 Oklahoman.
Canadian Parliament defeats assisted suicide bill
The Canadian Parliament has overwhelmingly defeated a bill to legalize assisted suicide.
In an April 21 vote, the House of Commons rejected the measure by a margin of 228-59. The bill would have permitted doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs for people who are terminally ill or live with severe chronic pain, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, called the result an “incredible victory” but said “the battle is not over.”
“We must continue to build a nation that upholds the dignity of all its citizens,” Schadenberg said. “We must continue to create a paradigm that protects all Canadians, including its most vulnerable. We reject the concept that killing can be the answer to problems that are properly solved by a caring society.”
China county seeks nearly 10,000 forced sterilizations
A populous southern Chinese county is seeking to sterilize nearly 10,000 people who have reportedly violated a restrictive family planning policy, according to The Times of London.
In a 20-day campaign that began April 7, officials in Puning County in Guangdong Province have detained relatives of those targeted for sterilization in an effort to force them to undergo the procedure. About 1,300 people have been detained, The Times reported.
The goal is to perform 9,559 sterilizations, according to the newspaper.
Population control – commonly referred to as a one-child policy – has been enforced in China since 1979. The policy generally limits couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural areas to two, if the first is a girl. Parents in cities may have second babies if the husband and wife are both only children.
Some families in Puning County, which permits a second child if a couple’s first is a girl, have three or four children, however, The Times reported.
Penalties for violations of the population control policy have included fines, arrests and the destruction of homes, as well as forced abortion and sterilization. Infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported.
Killer of pro-lifer sentenced to life in prison
The man who shot to death a pro-life demonstrator outside a Michigan high school was sentenced April 22 to life in prison.
Harland Drake, 34, of Owosso, Mich., was found guilty in March by a jury in the Sept. 11, 2009, shooting deaths of James Pouillon and Michael Fouss. Drake confessed he killed Pouillon, 63, who was shot as he stood outside Owosso High School, where he regularly held signs of aborted babies.
In sentencing Drake, Shiawassee Circuit Judge Gerald Lostracco said he wished he had the authority to also order “hard labor” for Drake, the Associated Press reported.
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