Senate Democrats Kill Pro-Life Bills (Again)

- House-passed pro-life legislation also faces tough road in Democrat-controlled Senate

The State Senate’s Democrat majority renewed its annual tradition and once again killed a number of Republican-authored pro-life measures this week by refusing to give the bills a committee hearing before this week’s committee deadline.

And a member of the Senate’s Republican leadership team predicted that Senate Democrats will also kill the pro-life bills passed this week by the House of Representatives.

“Sadly, this is a different verse of the same song. Senate Democrats have once again killed meaningful, common sense pro-life bills without so much as a committee hearing,” stated Senate Republican Whip Randy Brogdon. “The Senate Democrats will almost certainly kill the pro-life bills coming over from the House, too.”

“Things won’t change at the State Capitol until we finally have pro-life leadership in the Oklahoma State Senate,” said Brogdon, R-Owasso, who authored one of the pro-life bills killed this week by Senate Democrats.

For years, Sen. Bernest Cain, D-Oklahoma, has been the point person designated by the Senate’s liberal Democrat leadership to block pro-life legislation from being heard in the Democrat-controlled Senate. He serves as chairman of the Senate’s Health and Human Resources Committee.

Thursday, four of the GOP’s pro-life bills died in Cain’s committee because he refused to grant them a committee hearing:

- SB 1694, by Sen. David Myers of Ponca City, would require that women seeking an abortion be informed that printed materials are available describing the pain a fetus may feel during an abortion, and requiring that women be informed that in certain circumstances measures may be taken to eliminate the pain an abortion causes to an unborn child.
- SB 1781, by Sen. Cliff Aldridge of Choctaw, would provide information, counseling, and support services to assist pregnant women in choosing alternatives to abortion, such as adoption.
- SB 1898, by Sen. Randy Brogdon of Owasso, would require that women seeking abortions be informed that ultrasound imaging and heart tone monitoring services are available so that the mother can view the development of her unborn child.
- SB 1739, by Sen. Owen Laughlin of Woodward, would require better statistical reporting by abortion providers about abortions at their facilities, such as the number of abortions performed and complications that have developed during procedures.