Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I'm a liberal. I believe in equal rights. I believe in gay marriage. I believe in the separation of church and state. And I also am pro-choice.

Before I go too much farther, let me say that I'm pro-choice, which does not necessarily mean that I'm pro-abortion. Instead, it means that I believe in a woman's right to choose. And, I'm not going any deeper into my beliefs (do I think it's right or wrong) -- other than to say that I support the right to make a choice.

Last week, Oklahoma legislators sent two bills to the governors desk, restricting abortions. Friday, he vetoed the bills because neither contained provisions for cases of rape or incest. Today, with zero discussion, the House of Representatives overrode his veto. Tomorrow, the bills go to the Senate for their vote.

In a nutshell, the bills are designed to make it much harder, both physically and emotionally, for a woman to have an abortion. One bill requires a woman to complete an extremely long questionnaire, detailing her reasons for seeking an abortion, her education, her family background, her religion, and all sorts of other information -- information that will then not be kept behind the veil of doctor/patient confidentiality. This information, sans her name, will be gathered in a statewide database. In addition, this bill also requires that the women undergo a mandatory ultrasound, with the doctor explaining, in great detail, what he or she is seeing. The woman will be forced to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Essentially, these bills are designed to make it excruciating for women to obtain abortions.

Think about this...if a woman is brutally raped and becomes pregnant, she very well may not want to carry the fetus to term. She, after all of her trauma, makes the incredibly difficult decision to have an abortion. She seeks medical attention and is forced to face all of the above...and this is in addition to the horror she's already endured...all because Oklahoma's right-wing nut jobs are so determined that women should not have the right to make a decision regarding their own health.

Substitute a woman who's a victim of incest and you still have the same scenario. A woman whose life is in danger because of her pregnancy...again, same scenario. In fact, you can plug in any woman who's reached the decision to have an abortion into the above and she's still going to suffer additionally and unnecessarily.

We don't force condemned criminals to face this type of cruel and unusual punishment before they're put to death (let's not discuss if I agree with the death penalty or not). So why is it okay for us to make innocent women suffer?

If, as is expected, the Senate overrides the Governor's veto tomorrow, there are already court challenges planned. I can only hope that the highest court will find these bills to be unconstitutional.