Oklahomans For Life – LEGISLATIVE ALERTMay 22nd, 2009
Two key pro-life bills become law;
Your efforts made the difference
Self-described “pro-choice” Democrat Governor Brad Henry broke his recent pattern of vetoing pro-life bills and signed into law Thursday HB 1595 and HB 1114.
He may have concluded that a veto would be overridden by the legislature (or, as some speculate, he may be thinking of running for the U.S. Senate).
HB 1595, the chief pro-life priority for this legislative session, requires the reporting of abortions and abortion complications. This law also prohibits sex-selection abortions.
HB 1114 bans human cloning. This law prohibits the creation of human embryos through cloning for the purpose of harvesting their stem cells, thereby killing these embryonic human beings. HB 1114 also prohibits “reproductive cloning.”
Governor Henry has vetoed major pro-life bills each of the past three years. In 2007, pro-life language almost identical to the vetoed language was later inserted in another bill and became law. In 2008, the Governor’s pro-abortion veto was overridden by both the Senate and the House, the first time a veto has been overridden in Oklahoma in 14 years. And following the veto last month of HB 1326, which would have banned embryo-destructive stem-cell research, pro-life legislators brought a replacement bill which bans all human cloning.
That bill, HB 1114, became law yesterday. After having repeatedly made the argument, in defense of his veto of HB 1326, that these so-called “surplus” embryos at fertility clinics “are going to be discarded anyway,” Gov. Henry would have been hard-pressed to justify vetoing a cloning ban that prohibits, literally, creating human lives for the purpose of destroying them.
HB 1114 will save the lives of countless embryonic human beings. As ten members of the President’s Council on Bioethics said in a March 25 statement: “What researchers most desire, in fact, are not spare IVF (in vitro fertilization) embryos but cloned embryos…”
Many pro-life legislators provided exceptional leadership in bringing about the enactment of these two key pro-life bills. Those most responsible were Senator Todd Lamb, Representative Dan Sullivan, Rep. Mike Reynolds, Sen. Glenn Coffee, Rep. Chris Benge, Rep. Pam Peterson, and Rep. Rebecca Hamilton.
And each of you who contacted your legislators are responsible, as well. Thank you for speaking up in defense of our littlest sisters and brothers.
Tony Lauinger
State Chairman, Oklahomans For Life
