Oklahoma lawmakers are so fickle.
The Oklahoma Legislature voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to override vetoes of two highly restrictive abortion measures, one making it a law that women undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before having an abortion.
As we know from last week's discussion, Oklahoma lawmakers are now mandating that women undergo completely unnecessary vaginal ultrasounds so they have all the information they need before deciding to obtain a legal medical procedure.
Except that Oklahoma lawmakers want to make sure women don't have all the information they need before deciding to obtain a legal medical procedure if it means they might decide to obtain a legal medical procedure.
The second measure passed into law Tuesday protects doctors from malpractice suits if they decide not to inform the parents of a unborn baby that the fetus has birth defects. The intent of the bill is to prevent parents from later suing doctors who withhold information to try to influence them against having an abortion.
In other words, if you're a woman in Oklahoma seeking a legal medical procedure, you will first be forced to have a completely unnecessary procedure so the doctor can show and describe to you your beautiful, healthy little bundle of joy.
This is Oklahoman for "informed consent."
But if that bundle of joy isn't so healthy? Tough shit. The doctor doesn't have to say a word.
“It is unconscionable to grant a physician legal protection to mislead or misinform pregnant women in an effort to impose his or her personal beliefs on a patient,” Mr. Henry said.
Too bad for the Democratic governor, though. The Republican dominated legislature easily overrode his vetoes because they want to guarantee that women have all none of the information they need to make an informed decision.
Of course, this is the same group of lawmakers who are trying to pass a law that would allow Oklahomans to opt out of health care reform to keep government out of people's private lives.
“We are entering into an era of government, an activist government, like we have never seen in our country,” Benge said. “We have a government that believes that it can be all things to all people; we have a government that has no boundaries or no conscious when it comes fiscal prudence; we have a government that believes it can create some utopian society or a perfect world without suffering or pain.”
Because in Oklahoma, a perfect utopian world is one where no one can have health care -- unless it's a mandated vaginal ultrasound.
