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April 19, 2024

Our Most Recent Op-Ed: Oklahoma must ban medical abortion pills from out-of-state

 

Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has waged war against Chemical Abortion Pills at the Federal and State level for a long time. In West Virginia, Kansas, and Mississippi, SFLAction supported or written legislation seeking to restrict the impact of this extremely dangerous and harmful substance which kills preborn babies, harms women, and ruins the environment. 

In Oklahoma, we’re proud to support HB 3013, which SFLAction worked with legislators to introduce. The bill, if passed, would “criminalize the trafficking of Chemical Abortion drugs with the intent to cause an unlawful abortion,” and “charge those knowingly deliver or possess such drugs with the intent to deliver them to someone seeking an unlawful abortion with a felony. Upon conviction, the punishment could include a fine up to $100,000 or imprisonment for up to ten years, or both. “ 

 

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BILL, READ: Legislation Alert: Oklahoma Introduces HB 3013, Restricting and Punishing Chemical Abortion Pill Sales 

 

Our Vice President of Political Affairs Chanel Prunier recently co-authored an op-ed with one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Jim Olsen, explaining why this legislation is needed to save lives – and why given its popularity in the Oklahoma House, there’s no reason to delay or impede its passage. 

A small snippet of the full op-ed is below: 

“Oklahoma has some of the strongest pro-life laws in the country. As of today, the state limits abortion in nearly every instance, while protecting the lives of mothers with life threatening medical complications. 

Yet a rising black market of medical abortion pills being shipped into Oklahoma from out of state is putting thousands upon thousands of women at great risk of injury, infertility, death and abuse. 

Thankfully, this problem can be solved, but elected leaders must act swiftly. Students for Life Action has proudly worked with Oklahoma Reps. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, and Jim Olsen, R-Roland on a solution — HB 3013 — which would put women first and punish those shipping drugs into the state with felony charges, fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years. 

The severe punishments match the severity of this Food and Drug Administration-approved plague.  

Abortions committed with medication are more than six in 10 abortions nationwide, according to data from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. 

These pills cause four times more complications than surgical abortion, according to a 2009 study from Finland. A separate National Institute of Health study notes the risk of death is 10 times higher with medical abortion than surgical abortion but states the death rate is low (about 1 per 100,000) and carries the same risk of death as a miscarriage and much lower than a delivery.” 

 

READ THE FULL OP-EP HERE: Opinion: Oklahoma must ban medical abortion pills from out-of-state