SB 13's opponents ought to reconsider

Regarding “Bill could harm good cause” (Our Views, Feb. 28): The position against Senate Bill 13 seems to rely nearly entirely on the bill's requirements to repeal all other laws on abortion in Oklahoma. SB 13 opponents are against that because they believe some of those laws place actual, real, effective, practical restrictions on the practice of getting abortion on demand, anywhere in the state, any time, for any indication. If they're right, and if those incremental pro-life legal efforts have actually limited the real availability of abortion on demand — something those of us “on the ground” have almost never truly experienced — then SB 13 may need retooling. However, trusted people on the ground, people in this legislative, ecclesial, ecumenical and cultural battle against abortion for more than three decades, think very strongly otherwise. For them, if an abortion-minded woman in our state wants an abortion, she can get it any time, anywhere, and by any and all pretexts! So, we have to do better than: “We have to preserve the laws that specify abortion to be legal in rape and incest cases, or when the parents approve, or when the mother approves the execution after having seen her ultrasound, or in optimally sterile and accredited execution facilities.” We must do better. If your laws have no effect, and the stakes are high, then you need better laws. Come now, then, abolitionists. Light a candle! Dominic M. Pedulla Edmond