Men Must Approve All Abortions – Oklahoma Lawmakers Suggested

By AM Sunday, February 26, 2017

Share Tweet Share Share Email

From Atheist Republic, a piece by Lena M highlighting a right wing assault on women's reproductive rights.

Oklahoma - Freshman State Rep. Justin Humphrey‘s House Bill 1441 would not allow a woman to have an abortion without the consent of the father. She would have to provide the identity of the father, allow him to get a paternity test if he wanted (delaying said abortion), with exceptions offered only in the cases of rape and incest. The problem is that cases of domestic abuse don’t count as an exception which means that women who are victims of domestic abuse would have to get their partner’s permission to have an abortion.

“I understand that they feel like that is their body,” State Rep. Humphrey said of women. “I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant,” he explained. “But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in.”

This statement only shows what some men think about women and their rights to make decisions about their lives and bodies. And, when someone who lives in the 21st century shows disrespect towards women in such amount and even tries to put it in some bill, it could be a disaster.

Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, though she is hardly shocked that Oklahoma lawmakers would seek to pass such a regressive bill. “This is, to my mind, a fruitless effort to shame and stigmatize women who are seeking abortion care and it is completely and unequivocally unconstitutional.”

"Reproductive rights" are the rights of individuals to decide whether to reproduce and have reproductive health. This may include an individual's right to plan a family, terminate a pregnancy, use contraceptives, learn about sex education in public schools, and gain access to reproductive health services. Today, the subject of reproductive rights continues to be an emotionally and politically charged issue, especially in light of new technologies and recent laws. But, one of the basic women’s rights is that she could decide whether she wants to be a mum or not because a mother is an irreplaceable figure in the child's life and there must be no exceptions.

Of all the bills filed this session, HB 1441 has been most troubling to coalition members, said Speidel, a minister in Enid, Oklahoma, and a current member of the coalition’s board. “This one, by far, was the one that bothered us the most,” she said.

There were a lot of feelings about it. In a state that doesn’t really spend a lot of time on domestic violence issues it really just showed ignorance regarding what relationships can be for some women.