Oklahoma State House Approves Pro-Life Bill Prohibiting Sex-Selection Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 26, 2009
Oklahoma City, OK (LifeNews.com) — The Oklahoma state House has approved a pro-life bill that prohibits using abortions for purposes of sex-selection. The House passed the legislation 93-4 on Wednesday and now the measure heads to the state Senate for its consideration.
The measure also requires abortion practitioners to report certain information to the state health department.
Rep. Dan Sullivan, a Tulsa Republican, is the sponsor of the sex-selection abortion ban, which he says is designed to stop couples from using abortion as a method of obtaining the gender of the baby they want.
"As designer babies become more prevalent, we must do all we can to ensure unborn children are not killed simply because a dad always dreamed of having a son," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he "hasn’t received any definite information that proves" that sex-selection abortions are happening in Oklahoma, but one report from last year suggests that may be the case.
Researchers Douglas Almond and Lena Edlund published a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences saying that, even though the practice of sex-selection abortions is most commonly associated with the cultural mores of Asian nations like China or India, it is happening locally.
The report says the influx of immigrants to the United States has brought the grisly practice here and census data is beginning to show a slight gender imbalance as a result.
Asian culture values sons as they are looked to for carrying on the family name and inheriting property and possessions. In India, girls are seen as an expense that poor and middle class families can’t afford due to costly dowries.
Sullivan also talked about the abortion reporting requirement aspect of the bill and said the state needs to be able to keep good statistics to help reduce abortions.
Under the bill the health department would put more abortion related statistics on its web site.
Abortion advocates opposed the bill and said it merely presents another barrier for women who want to get abortions.
Related web sites:
Oklahomans for Life – https://www.okforlife.org
Oklahoma State Legislature – https://www.lsb.state.ok.us
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