Heartland Republicans introduce bills to define abortion as murder
As legislative sessions kick off across the country, Republicans in Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina are ramping up efforts to further restrict reproductive rights by classifying abortion as an act of homicide. All four states already have completely banned, severely limited or are in the process of prohibiting the procedure. However, that has not stopped lawmakers from seeking to penalize further the activities of mothers who may leave the state for an abortion or purchase medication that can induce an abortion.
In the case of Oklahoma, whose legislation is entitled the “Abolition of Abortion Act,” the function of the potential law is about fulfilling “such constitutional requirement by protecting the lives of preborn persons with the same criminal and civil laws protecting the lives of born persons by repealing provisions that permit willful prenatal homicide or assault….”
Additionally, the Oklahoma bill would curtail free speech rights by ”repealing provisions that may otherwise allow a person to direct, advise, encourage, or solicit a mother to abort her child.”
The text was co-authored by state Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) — a committed Christian nationalist — who alongside the Abolition of Abortion Act also introduced a slate of religiously influenced legislation that would, among other things, prohibit no-fault divorce and imprison those who performed drag shows in the presence of minors.
“Sadly, the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency has been so successful that some have come to accept as normal a society that is drowning in hardcore pornography, prenatal homicide, and sexual performances for children,” Deevers said in a statement.
The new assault on reproductive medicine comes in light of an executive order by President Donald Trump that champions the concept of “fetal personhood.” Upon taking office, Trump immediately targeted transgender communities by officially decreeing what a man and a woman constitute.
“‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” the executive order states. “‘Male’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”
The use of the term “at conception” could be a signal of things to come: potentially paving the way for a national abortion ban.
“I don’t think it was a mistake. I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think this was an intentional way to continue to normalize the idea that embryos are people,” Dana Sussman, the senior vice president of Pregnancy Justice, told The Guardian. “This is yet another attempt to codify it in one form or another.”