(ETH) – Oklahoma Republican lawmaker Warren Hamilton has plans to file a bill that would implement a statewide ban on abortion. Hamilton revealed that the bill is sitting with staff for final adjustments, but plans to file it within the week.
“I want to make sure that I have all my ducks in a row and it says exactly what I want it to say before I file it,” Hamilton said. According to the report, Oklahoma lawmakers only have until Jan. 21st to file bills for the 2021 legislative session that starts Feb. 2nd.
Hamilton stated that the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act/Equal Protection and Equal Justice Act would criminalize all abortions. When he was asked about any exceptions, Hamilton said he believes procedures to save a mother’s life during childbirth should be defined as “triage” and should be accepted.
“Not any piece of legislation that I will author is going to try to put a mother’s life in danger,” Hamilton said. “That’s triage — you can have two dead people or you can have one dead person. And so there’s not a doctor in the world that’ll say ‘we’re going to have two.’”
“I think there needs to be a redefinition of terms, but until that happens, I’m certainly not going to stop moving in a Godly and a just direction,” he added. Oklahoma bills criminalizing abortion have not been successful in the past and have failed as recently as last year when former senator Joseph Silk’s abortion abolition bill,
Senate Bill 13, stalled with many calling it unconstitutional. Hamilton claims the U.S. Constitution allows states to exercise reserved police powers to outlaw homicide and provide equal protection to all. “The people who are opposed to it, they’re not requesting a dialogue,” Hamilton said. “It’s one-sided.”
