On Friday afternoon, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a bill that would have made performing most abortions a felony in the state.
Advertisement
But cooler heads prevailed and Fallin vetoed it, with little warning to her fellow Republicans, describing the bill as vague and unlikely to withstand a legal challenge.
It passed 33-12 Thursday with no discussion or debate; a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats in voting against the bill sponsored by Republican Sen.
The legislature can override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses, a distinct possibility, since it would literally only take one senator flipping his/her “nay” vote to “yea”.
Almost every year, Oklahoma lawmakers have passed bills imposing new restrictions on abortions, but many of those laws have never taken effect. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, had said he relished the chance to fight for it in court and hoped that it could lead to a reconsideration of abortion rights by the Supreme Court. “The absence of any definition, analysis or medical standard renders this exception vague, indefinite, and vulnerable to subjective interpretation and application”. Abortion doctors could get up to three years in prison under the bill. But it provided no exceptions in cases of rape, incest or even when fetal anomalies would make survival outside the womb impossible.
The decision to veto the bill, which likely would have opened up the state to lawsuits from abortion rights supporters, comes at a time when Fallin is considered a possible running mate for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“Since I believe life begins at conception, it should be protected, and I believe it’s a core function of state government to defend that life from the beginning of conception”, he stated. She further reminded lawmakers that she had signed previous bills that supported pro-family and pro-life values.
The Center for Reproductive Rights has a complex history of battling the Oklahoma Governor in court due to previous anti-abortion laws passed in the state.
The Oklahoma state legislature passed the legislation on Thursday. Fallin said she disagreed with pursuing that path for this particular bill.
“It flies in the face of almost four decades of judicial precedent that guarantees a woman’s right to access abortion care”, he said.
Advertisement
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue applauded the governor’s veto Friday, calling Bill 1552 “unconstitutional and risky”.
