Delegation backs 20-week abortion ban
Oklahoma’s congressional delegation unanimously backed legislation this week to ban abortion at and after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a longtime aspiration of anti-abortion activists, passed the House on Tuesday but is unlikely to pass the Senate.
“There are children alive, healthy, and growing today who were born prematurely at five months pregnancy,” said U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City. “We should not allow elective abortions past five months of pregnancy, especially when science shows that unborn babies feel pain at this stage.”
Lankford and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, cosponsored the Senate legislation.
“Permitting elective abortions after 20 weeks is an injustice to the unborn,” Inhofe said. “At 20 weeks in a pregnancy, babies can swallow and yawn. They can hear. But most importantly, at 20 weeks in a pregnancy, babies can feel the pain of an abortion.”
Some states, including Oklahoma, currently ban abortion at 20 weeks except when pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s life.
The House voted 237189 in favor of the bill. Four Oklahoma Republicans — Reps. Steve Russell, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas and Markwayne Mullin — voted in favor. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, does not take part in votes because his nomination to be NASA administrator is pending before the Senate.
“This bill protects unborn children, who can feel pain, from the violence of abortion,” said Russell, R-Oklahoma City. “Saving the lives of millions of unborn children is a moral issue. The United States is one of only seven countries that allow elective abortions after 20 weeks.”
Planned Parenthood has criticized the bill as unconstitutional and “dangerous, out-oftouch legislation” that is “nothing more than yet another attempt to restrict women’s access to safe, legal abortion.” The group says 99 percent of abortions occur before 21 weeks but laterterm abortions are needed in complex situations of severe fetal anomalies and health risks to mothers.