The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry signs 3 anti-abortion bills
By Michael McNutt
“Gov. Brad Henry signed measures Monday to prevent women from getting abortions based on the gender of the fetus, require that only qualified physicians administer the RU-486 abortion pill and protect employees who refuse to participate in abortions.
A New York-based women’s rights group says it will wait until the end of the Oklahoma legislative session to determine whether it will challenge anti-abortion legislation.
‘We are disappointed that the governor signed these bills into law,’ said Stephanie Toti, a staff attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The Center for Reproductive Rights successfully challenged earlier versions of each of the bills.
Legislators this year filed separate bills for each of the seven measures that were contained in the two bills. The Center for Reproductive Rights has said the measures would interfere with a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and her privacy.
Toti said the group is especially concerned with two of the anti-abortion measures: House Bill 2780 would require a women be given a description of ultrasound images of her unborn child and be offered those images before getting an abortion, and HB 3284 would require doctors to report detailed information about abortions to the state Health Department, including the age, marital status and education level of patients.
‘Those bills raise the most significant constitutional concerns and would have the biggest impact on women’s access to reproductive health care,’ Toti said.”
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