Oklahoma House Backs Parental Consent on Abortion, Fetal Pain Bills 
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by Maria Vitale Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
February 25, 2006
Oklahoma City, OK (LifeNews.com) — The Oklahoma House has passed a pair of bills that supporters say will reduce abortion totals in the state.
Under one bill, girls under the age of 18 would have to get parental consent before obtaining an abortion. A second bill would require doctors to inform patients that their unborn baby could feel pain during an abortion if they are more than 20 weeks pregnant.
Ironically, the only physician in the House—Rep. Doug Cox—voted against both bills, saying they would be a burden to physicians and would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. Cox also said that the parental consent requirement could pose problems for young women who are victims of incest.
Both bills now go onto the Oklahoma Senate. In the past, pro-life bills have died in the Senate in committee.
Commenting on the pro-life legislation in the Oklahoma legislature, Rep. John Trebilcock, a Republican lawmaker, told the Associated Press, “If you’re going to have an abortion, a woman needs to have all the information that’s available.”
Meanwhile, Shirley Cox of Catholic Charities told AP earlier this month that the legislation "has an impact in the pro-life debate. Many women who have had abortions have said, ‘If I had the information I would not have had the abortion.’”
Another pro-life advocate, Eusebius Beltran, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is urging lawmakers to “make decisions that are important to the people.”
Related web site:
Oklahomans for Life: https://www.okforlife.org
