Kevin West said the far-right law firm Alliance Defending Freedom helped draft the legislation that targets emergency contraception, which is literal birth control.
A Republican state representative in Oklahoma recently introduced a bill that would define life as beginning when a sperm fertilizes an egg and wouldsays that contraception could be prohibited if it’s prescribed or used “to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.” It’s not only incorrect that blocking implantation is tantamount to abortion, but that’s not even how emergency contraception works.
But anti-abortion activists and lawmakers argue that EC prevents fertilized eggs from implanting, which they claim is an abortion. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court gave that idea credence in the 2014: “The owners of the businesses have religious objections to abortion, and according to their religious beliefs the four contraceptive methods at issue are abortifacients.
Back to Oklahoma: Thankfully, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers raised concerns about HB 3216 in a House Public Health Committee, saying it appeared to be a ban on emergency contraception. Rep. Trish Ranson Wednesday, “If the bill doesn’t get changed with the current wording then IUDs and Plan B could be inaccessible to women.
Lawmakers also objected to the fact that HB 3216 would require doctors to report each abortion done to save a person’s life; that information would be used to create a de-identifiedAnd this horror show wasn’t even the only abortion-related bill to advance this week. Another, HB 3013, would make it ato deliver or intend to deliver abortion-inducing medications to Oklahoma residents who planned to use the drugs to have an abortion.