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Stories tagged with “Oklahoma”

NEWS FLASH

Oklahoma Judge Strikes Down State’s Mandatory Ultrasound Law | On Wednesday, an Oklahoma district judge struck down a state law requiring women to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them and to listen to a detailed description of the fetus before having an abortion. District Judge Bryan Dixon ruled that the 2010 measure is an unconstitutional special law because it only affects patients, physicians, and sonographers who deal with abortions without addressing other medical care. Along with Oklahoma, several states have mandatory ultrasound laws; Virginia passed one most recently. Challenges against these types of laws are pending in North Carolina and Ohio, while Texas’ law went into effect this year after a judge upheld it.

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Mar 29, 2012 at 2:45 pm

NEWS FLASH

Oklahoma House Committee Advances Personhood Bill | The Oklahoma House’s Public Health Committee voted yesterday to advance a personhood bill. The legislation, passed by a 7-4 vote, would provide embryos and fetuses “all the rights, privileges and immunities” of other citizens. Opponents, including the Oklahoma State Medical Association, claim that the law could have unintended consequences, such as prohibiting some methods of contraception or in vitro fertilization, despite claims from proponents that it would not apply to those circumstances. The bill, a version of which has already passed the Senate, now heads to the full House, where it is also expected to pass. Opponents say they will stage a court challenge if it is signed into law.

-Zachary Bernstein

By Guest Blogger on Mar 29, 2012 at 12:15 pm

NEWS FLASH

Methodists In Oklahoma Call For Marriage Equality | A group of United Methodists in Oklahoma “are signing a statement in support of marriage equality ahead of an April global policy conference of the church, which prohibits gay marriage.” So far, 62 clergy and 203 members have endorsed the call for “full equality and inclusion to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Church.” The statement reads: “We joyfully affirm that we will offer the grace of God, and our blessings, to any prepared couple in our ministry context desiring Christian marriage. We are convinced by the witness of God’s love for all people, and are compelled by scripture, tradition, reason and experience to act.” Members of the church’s New York conference circulated a similar measure.

Climate Progress

Cushing’s Litany Of Climate Disasters, Fueled By Our Addiction To Oil

By Brad Johnson on Mar 22, 2012 at 12:40 pm

President Barack Obama’s visit to Cushing, Oklahoma, the “Pipeline Crossroads for the World,” took him to ground zero for climate disasters in the United States. Since 2007, Cushing alone has been hit by disastrous drought, severe summer storms, ice storms, and wildfire. The state of Oklahoma — home to the country’s most visible climate denier and oil industry apologist, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) — has the greatest density of disaster declarations in the country, an analysis by Environment America has found. Six Oklahoma counties have each experienced 10 or more declared presidential climate disasters since 2006:

In 2011, Oklahoma was hit by the disastrous Groundhog’s Day blizzard, flooding rains in April, tornadoes in May, and then set the national record for the hottest summer ever of any state in the union, smashing the previous record set by Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl summer of 1934 by 1.8 degrees.

American taxpayers are footing the bill for these fossil-fueled disasters, motivated by the obligation to care for their fellow citizens no matter where they live.

In his speech, Obama made no mention of the climate disasters that have hit Oklahoma. “It is good to be back in Oklahoma,” he said. “I have not been back here since the campaign, and everybody looks like they are doing just fine.”

Climate Progress

Thoughts On Obama’s Visit To Cushing, OK: The Pipeline Crossroads For The World

By Guest Blogger on Mar 21, 2012 at 11:00 am

Our guest blogger is David Turnbull, the former director of Climate Action Network – International who is chronicling his month-long road trip across the nation in a hybrid car.

There’s a lot that I could write about today — the way driving on country roads rather than interstates lets you have a feel of the land and country you’re driving by, images of the colorful diner where I had lunch in the middle of nowhere in western Oklahoma, the sublimely random and awesome retro ’80s bar I happened upon tonight in Tulsa, etc etc etc.

But tonight I’m going to focus on one experience: I drove through Cushing, Oklahoma today.

Cushing, for those who don’t know, is known as the “pipeline crossroads for the world.” I’m aware of it because it’s been one of the cities at the center of the Keystone XL pipeline debate. The Keystone XL pipeline would, if constructed, transport the world’s dirtiest oil from Canada through the heartland of America to the Texas coast to be refined and, for the most part, shipped overseas. It’s a terrible project, and the President was right to reject it not once, but twice…and yet it keeps coming back like a zombie waking from the dead. Cushing would be a major point in the pipeline, and even today sits at what could be a crucial junction of the Southern portion, which it seems Obama may unfortunately be ready to push forward.

I drove into Cushing late in the afternoon today. When I got there I decided I’d go see a bit of downtown. There were signs talking about a “historic downtown,” so I figured I’d have a look. What I found was depressing, in as much as any town that’s struggling with hard economic times is depressing.

It’s a town where half of the storefronts are closed and boarded up. The main street, the street that is supposed to be the epicenter of the town: nearly deserted. The few people who were actually walking around looked depressed…but maybe that was just me, projecting my own feelings onto my perception of them.

After a quick tour of downtown Cushing, if you can call it downtown, I drove south of town. To where the oil sits. Read more

Health

As Anti-Abortion Bills Gain Steam, Legislators Push Back With Legislation Mocking The Extreme Bills

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Mar 6, 2012 at 2:25 pm

States enacted a record number of anti-abortion laws in 2011 and conservative lawmakers aren’t wasting any time advancing legislation that limits women’s access to abortion services in the first few months of 2012. The bills, if enacted into law, would not only restrict women’s constitutionally-protected right to abortion, but would also significantly hamper women’s abilities to make their own decisions about reproductive health, effectively putting the government in between a woman and her doctor.

But a few state lawmakers are offering counter legislation that seeks to give men a taste of their own medicine:

EVERY SPERM HAS A RIGHT (OKLAHOMA): To poke fun a “personhood” bill that give full rights to a zygote, state Sen. Constance Johnson (D) introduced an amendment that would also declare every sperm to be sacred. “However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child,” her amendment stated.

CHILDREN DENIED BIRTH BECAUSE OF VASECTOMIES (GEORGIA): State Rep. Yasmin Neal (D) introduced legislation that would limit vasectomies. “Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies,” Neal explained. Her measure is in response to a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks on the grounds that a fetus can feel pain — a claim disputed by doctors.

MORE HOOPS TO CLEAR FOR VIAGRA (OHIO): In response to Ohio’s so-called Heartbeat Bill, which would prevent abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, state Sen. Nina Turner (D) will introduce a bill that would make men jump through hoops, like a psychological screening, before they could obtain Viagra and similar drugs for erectile dysfunction. “All across the country, including in Ohio, I thought since men are certainly paying great attention to women’s health that we should definitely return the favor,” Turner said.

RECTAL EXAMS FOR A VIAGRA PRESCRIPTIONS (VIRGINIA): To protest Virginia’s bill requiring women to receive an ultrasound before an abortion, state Sen. Janet Howell (D) attached an amendment to the bill that would have required men to receive a rectal exam and pass a cardiac stress test before doctors wrote them a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. “We need some gender equity here,” Howell said. The Virginia Senate rejected her amendment, but both chambers passed the ultrasound requirement after clarifying that women would not be forced to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound.

KNOW THE SIDE EFFECTS OF VIAGRA (ILLINOIS): State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) decided to push back against GOP attacks on women’s health by offering an amendment that would require men to watch a “horrific video” about the side effects of Viagra before the received a prescription for the drug. His bill is in response to a measure requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion. “If we are going to do this, we need to do it in a way that is applied equally,” Cassidy said.

PROTECT ALL SPERM (DELAWARE): Mocking the “personhood” measures, the town council in Wilmington, Delaware approved a satirical resolution “that asks state legislatures and U.S. Congress to enact laws that forbid men from destroying their semen.” The resolution notes that if lawmakers think a female egg has full rights, then they should say the same thing about sperm.

Update

Missouri legislators have also introduced a bill that would limit vasectomies so that the procedures only would be performed “to avert the death of a man or avert serious risk of…physical impairment,” and that no regard would be given to the man’s desire to father children.

NEWS FLASH

Oklahomans Protest Proposed Personhood Measure | Hundreds of people protested outside of the Oklahoma state Capitol against SB 1433, a bill that would declare personhood at conception, giving full rights to a zygote. The bill is pending in the House after state senators approved the legislation. “I think this may be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back,” state Sen. Constance Johnson (D) said about the demonstration, where women donned aprons and took off their shoes as a reminder of a time when women had few reproductive choices. Watch a report about the protest from the Oklahoman:

Last week, the Virginia Senate killed a similar personhood measure, which would ban birth contorl, outlaw abortion, and even prevent couples from using IVF for fertility treatment.

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 29, 2012 at 12:33 pm

Health

Oklahoma Moves Planned Parenthood To The Back Of The Line For Funding

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 17, 2012 at 6:00 pm

The Oklahoma legislature is considering a bill to dictate where Oklahoma prioritizes state and federal funds, which one lawmaker says is designed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Rep. Doug Cox (R), an emergency room physician, said that if Planned Parenthood was not available, many women and children would not be able to receive counseling, cancer screenings, and children’s services.

The bill, HB 2324, would re-prioritize the state’s family planning grants and public funding so that the money went to public entities first then nonpublic and federally qualified health centers. Essentially, the prioritization would put Planned Parenthood at the end of the line for grants and cut off its funding. Cox called the bill a “knee-jerk reaction” to the national debate about Planned Parenthood and abortion that would hurt the women of Oklahoma:

About 70 percent of the women going to Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma receive Medicaid, and the others are low income, he said. They would be unable to receive counseling, cancer tests and children’s services if Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t available. [...]

“I don’t know why we’re confusing abortion with family planning,” Cox said. “I suspect that if it wasn’t for family planning the amount of women contributing to society and the Legislature and the workforce that makes this country great would be far different.

“A lot of them would be home barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen,” Cox said.

“I don’t want to revert to those times. I don’t want to punish Oklahoma women for getting healthier.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jason Murphey (R), would not say if his bill would prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving state or federal money for family planning or counseling services. But last year, Murphey tried to take $460,000 from a federal nutrition program administered by Planned Parenthood, which serves 9,300 people in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His bill would have redirected the funds to other groups that do not offer abortion referral services.

Politics

Oklahoma Lawmaker Wants To Outlaw Use Of Human Fetuses In Production Of Food

By Adam Peck on Jan 24, 2012 at 7:40 pm

Oklahoma State Sen. Ralph Shortey (R)

Oklahoma GOP State Senator Ralph Shortey is on a mission to finally put an end to his state’s allegedly rampant cannibalism problem. Alarmed after his own research, which consisted of reading a nameless report stating that companies have used stem cells in the production of food, Shortey introduced a bill that would prohibit the manufacturing and sale of food “which contains aborted human fetuses.”

Shortey explained his reasoning to local radio station News Talk Radio KRMG in Tulsa:

There is a potential that there are companies that are using aborted human babies in their research and development of basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors.

Shortey was unable to provide any specific examples of the problem he’s trying to curb, and admits that it’s possible there aren’t any human fetuses in Oklahoma’s food. “I don’t know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be,” he said.

NPR suggests Shortey may have caught wind of a boycott waged against PepsiCo and others last year after they contracted with the San Diego research and development company Senomyx, which employed the use of stem cells in their research. But the cell line in question dates to the 1970s, and can be traced back to human embryonic kidney cells, a far cry from Shortey’s claim of human fetuses.

NEWS FLASH

Oklahoma Lawmaker Claims DADT Would Stop Promotion Of ‘Gay’ In The Military | Oklahoma state lawmaker Rep. Mike Reynolds (R) is defending his controversial proposal to force gay and lesbian servicemembers in the state’s National Guard back in the closet and reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In an interview with KXII, Reynolds argued that the measure would stop the promotion of homosexuality and restore the morale of the troops. “It doesn’t say if you are gay you cant join the military, if you are gay you can’t be in the military, what it says is don’t go out there and promote it,” Reynolds said. “It was a policy that was in place for 16 years and nobody except a couple of radical activists found any harm in the policy and as a pay off for those radical activists for helping him become elected, President Barack Obama chose to reverse the policy.” Watch his comments:

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