HiddenMysteries: New Proof! Not all Oklahomians are Retarded Republicans

Judge rules Oklahoma abortion law unconstitutional

By BARBARA HOBEROCK

An Oklahoma County district judge ruled Friday that a controversial abortion law is unconstitutional.
District Judge Daniel L. Owens said House Bill 1595 by Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, and Rep. Daniel Sullivan, R-Tulsa, covers more than one subject and cannot stand.

The law banned abortions based on gender and required women to supply a host of information to be placed on a public Web site. However, the information would not have identified the women.

“Most people are smart enough to realize that the gender of the child cannot be determined before 18 to 20 weeks, even with an ultrasound,” said Lora Joyce Davis, a Shawnee resident who brought the legal challenge along with Wanda Jo Stapleton, a former lawmaker. “The current Health Department database shows that over 96 percent of abortions occur before that time period.

“Even after that time period, gender determination requires an ultrasound, so most women seeking abortions wouldn’t know the gender of the fetus beforehand in order to even consider aborting based on gender selection.”

Davis said the authors of the bill wanted to “whip up their base using taxpayer money as fuel.”
Sullivan said Davis’ comment “doesn’t take into account the feeling of the majority of the Legislature and the governor that life really means something in the state of Oklahoma.”

Sullivan said he was surprised that the legislation was thrown out for violating the single-subject rule.
“I fail to see how a bill that has multiple sections all dealing with abortion would violate the single-subject rule,” he said. “If we used this kind of logic in looking at other bills, any interest group could challenge a bill that has more than one section in it and claim that it violates the single-subject rule. This could bring the legislative process to a halt.”

Although he struck down the legislation because it dealt with more than one subject, Owens also said in his ruling that abortion based on gender was uncivilized.

“We are deeply disappointed that an Oklahoma court would decide that a preference for a baby of a different sex is a reason to take a child’s life,” said Tony Lauinger, Oklahomans for Life chairman.

It is the second time in less than a year that a state judge has tossed out a statute dealing with abortion.
In August, Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson struck down Senate Bill 1878 on the same grounds.

SB 1878 required a women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound within an hour of the procedure and have its findings explained to her. The measure also covered the posting of signs in clinics, administration of the abortion pill RU-486 and lawsuits.

Both bills were put on hold before they could go into effect after legal challenges were filed.
The Legislature currently is reworking the bills, placing subjects in single pieces of legislatio
n.

The state Constitution requires that bills address one subject.

Jennifer Mondino, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the group is monitoring the new bills, adding that there are a number of problems with them.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, based in New York, represented the plaintiffs in both lawsuits challenging the recent abortion legislation.

Teresa Collett, a special assistant attorney general, said she would discuss the case with her clients before determining whether the state would appeal the most recent ruling. An appeal regarding the first ruling is pending.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/

New Proof! Not all Oklahomians are Retarded Republicans

Saturday, February 20 2010 @ 09:17 PM CST