A major new shift in pro-life politics occurs as I write. We still await the outcome of the present chapter.
The group AbolishAbortionOK.com, representative of the new movement, introduces itself with this statement:
The people of Oklahoma murder 6,000 babies every year while the prolife politicians we’ve elected to protect them attempt to regulate the practice of child sacrifice as if it were healthcare instead of addressing it as murder. The governing authorities of our state possess the moral, legal, and constitutional duty to establish justice for all human beings within their jurisdiction, including the preborn fatherless by prohibiting the slaughter of children in the womb. Contrary to widespread misinformation, the right to murder humans is not protected by the Constitution and our legislature is not bound by any law or duty to aid or abet the Supreme Court in their attempted perversion of it. On the contrary, they are duty bound by their oaths to support, obey, and defend the United States Constitution and oppose such perversions and abuses of it. We demand that our legislators stop passing laws to regulate abortion. We demand the total and immediate abolition of human abortion.
This group and their advocates, known as abolitionists, insist that Christian pro-life forces step up and act according to Scripture to protect the life of the unborn. For the past two weeks, supporters have distributed a “Paradigm Shifting pamphlet” Oklahoma, ‘the Most Pro-Life State in the Nation.’ The pamphlet claims, for example, that 85% of the State of Oklahoma’s lawmakers are pro-life.
Per a news item on their website, State Senator Joseph Silk introduced the “first abolitionist bill (of abortion) in this history of the United States,” Oklahoma Senate Bill 1118, introduced in late February this year.
According to the state’s website, SB 1118 essentially defines abortion as murder, whether accomplished purposely or incidentally to another crime, whether malice is intended or not.
As exciting as this development appears for those who love life on the Father’s terms, the bill apparently faces considerable opposition. For example, a letter from Oklahomans for Life, Inc. as posted on the AbolishAbortionOK website, clearly indicates this pro-life group opposes SB 1118 on the ground that it will repeal the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This 2011 law protects unborn babies from abortion if they can sense pain. AbolishAbortionOK answers this claim by noting SB1118 outlaws all abortion.
Well known Biblical Christian scholar, activist and media personality Jeff Durbin interviewed Tony Lauinger, the chairman of Oklahomans for Life and the signer of the above letter on Durbin’s ApologiaRadio.com program. Tony Lauinger is also vice president of National Right to Life, “the nation’s oldest and largest pro-life organization.” The interview was posted to YouTube.com on March 9, 2016. In the interview, Apologia Radio notes that Mr. Lauinger would not call abortion murder, and stated that abortionists should not be prosecuted for murder. He believes, according to the interview, that he prefers incremental encroachments on Roe v. Wade, as against the possible movement set-back which might occur from a complete abolition of abortion.
As of today, March 10, the bill does not appear on the Senate’s agenda and this is apparently the last day the present Senate’s session could vote on SB 1118. If it is not considered today, the Senate would necessarily introduce a new bill and take it through the entire legislative process once more. –editor
© 2016
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