Victory For Women! Anti-Abortion Personhood Bill Fails In Oklahoma Legislature

[SeattleGirl]

The Republican Party has been waging a merciless war on women. Across the nation, right-wing lawmakers have been trying to strip women of their right to abortion and contraceptive services. But on Thursday, women scored a victory in Oklahoma, as a controversial personhood bill, also known as SB 1433, was aborted in the state legislature.

Despite a Republican dominated Senate that passed the bill and an anti-abortion Governor willing to sign the bill, it failed in the Republican dominated House before it even reached the floor. Conservative Rep. Randy Terrill accused the Republican House Speaker of throwing the caucus “under the bus,” while Martha Skeeters, president of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, said she was very pleased with the bill’s failure, citing it as a threat to contraceptives, including the morning-after pill.

The personhood bill was fiercely contested by women in the state legislature and in Oklahoma in general. It not only sparked a feminist movement in the state, it sparked the addition of amendments that attacked the reproductive rights of men, including one offered by Senator Constance Johnson which would have banned masturbation by declaring wasted sperm an act against unborn children. The bill was also lampooned on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, revealing how hypocritical male lawmakers in Oklahoma were being in regard to the bill versus Johnson’s amendment. The segment proved to be a major embarrassment to male Republican lawmakers, who saw nothing wrong with restricting the reproductive rights of women, while at the same time complaining about infringements on their own reproductive rights.

This is yet another personhood initiative that has failed. Mississippi voters recently rejected a personhood amendment by a sound margin. But most importantly, this is a victory for women in Oklahoma and across the country against Republican efforts to make women subservient to the whims of male lawmakers. It should inspire women everywhere to keep fighting back, because even the most Republican dominated legislature can back down due to pressure. For now, Oklahoma lawmakers have chosen not to move forward with the dangerous bill. And that’s great news for women who value their reproductive freedom.

Link: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/23/...ill-fails/

This is great news! And it appears that the amendments tacked on to this bill had their desired effect. These men think nothing about severely curtailing a woman's control over her own body, but turn the tables, and they sure don't like it!

[PoliticalTiger]

I think the pukes are slowly starting to see the backlash that their anti-woman agenda is having on the party as a whole and how it's even dragging Willard down.

But I hope voters understand that after the November elections the pukes will start up this shit again unless they are voted out of power!

[SeattleGirl]

(04-24-2012 12:58 AM)PoliticalTiger Wrote:  I think the pukes are slowly starting to see the backlash that their anti-woman agenda is having on the party as a whole and how it's even dragging Willard down.

But I hope voters understand that after the November elections the pukes will start up this shit again unless they are voted out of power!

I hear you, PT. On one of the MSNBC shows yesterday, they had the head of one of the women's groups on, talking about the crap that the wingers have been pulling, and she said that yes, it's good that they are starting to pull back on some of the more egregious stuff they've been doing, but she doesn't trust them because she knows that once the election is over, if they are still in power, they will start it up all over again. And I think she (and you) are absolutely correct. I don't trust them either.

[azmouse]

Decisions on women's health care should be between a woman and her doctor, not a woman and her state's legislators.

[jaxx]

Good to hear one more state won't allow the anti-women law. But those above are right, you can't trust the pubs.