In a move that would make their state one of the most abortion-restricting in the union, the Oklahoma senate passed several new anti-abortion bills on Monday. The most shocking of the bills would require doctors performing ultrasounds on women seeking abortions to use vaginal probes if the picture would be clearer—and then for the doctor to describe the image in detail to the patient.
According to the Huffington Post, “The other abortion measures would require women to complete a lengthy questionnaire before receiving an abortion, mandate certain signs be posted in an abortion clinics and prevent so-called “wrongful-life” lawsuits in cases where a parent might argue that a child with birth defects or other problems would have been better off aborted. Another bill would prohibit state insurance exchanges, created under the new federal health care law, from covering abortions.”
The bill requiring patients to fill out a questionnaire before receiving an abortion would also require the answered questionnaires to be published online.
The bills have yet to be signed into law by the governor.
[AFP]
Map of Oklahoma courtesy Merriam-Webster.com
