In a press statement, Rep. Sean Roberts (R-OK) said the following: The pro-life citizens of Oklahoma should have the ability to help hold these doctors accountable. Individual citizens are an extremely important part of making sure that we are protecting the lives of the unborn. This legislation puts principle into action, and I am going to fight extremely hard to get it passed during the upcoming session.
TulsaWorld reported last week that Roberts expressed concern about the number of women coming from Texas into Oklahoma to have abortions since the passage of the Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8. “This legislation is critical, and it must be passed this session to stem the tide of Texans seeking abortions in our state,” Roberts stated.
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However, if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to a Mississippi law that restricts abortion, Oklahoma could return to a state law that outlaws all abortions except to save the life of the mother.
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Oklahoma is one of many Republican-led states seeking to mirror the basic principles of the Texas Heartbeat Act since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Texas law to remain in effect while lawsuits persist in opposing it.
Last week, during her State of the State address, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) called on her legislature to pass a law banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) became the first Sunshine State lawmaker to publicly announce he would introduce a heartbeat bill when the new legislative session began in January 2022.
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The bill would prohibit a physician to “knowingly perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detects a fetal heartbeat for the unborn child.” The bill contains a unique enforcement mechanism, similar to that in the Texas law, whereby any private citizen may file a civil lawsuit against an abortion provider or any other individual who “aids or abets” a “criminal abortion.”
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Murphy Bannerman of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona pressed that, if the bill passes, “It really forces people to make hard decisions.” “Either they are going to have to go out of state to get the care they need – they have seen that in Texas, and people are having to go to neighboring states to get the care they need, and it makes it hard for those who don’t have the resources to commute out of state,” she told FOX 10 Phoenix.
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More states are seeing similar bills introduced as the national March for Life takes place January 21 in the nation’s capital.
“All human life has dignity and deserves equal protection under the law from the moment of conception,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, in a statement sent to Breitbart News.