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Oklahoma Lawmaker Pushes to Require the Father's Consent for Abortion

<p>The state of Oklahoma is widely considered to be today&rsquo&semi;s &ldquo&semi;most pro-life state&comma;&rdquo&semi; but the abortion bill lawmakers are now considering might&nbsp&semi;be pushing things a little too far&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last month&comma;&nbsp&semi;Rep&period; Justin Humphrey &lpar;R-OK&rpar; introduced&nbsp&semi;a bill that would make it illegal for women to have abortions without the father&rsquo&semi;s consent&period; House Bill 1441&comma; which cleared the House Public Helath Committee on Tuesday&comma; makes exceptions for rape and incest and when the mother&rsquo&semi;s life is in danger&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Humphrey argues that men are typically excluded from this very important decision&comma; and that his bill would make fathers feel more responsibility towards their unborn children&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;This is not just about abortion&semi; this is about making men responsible for their part in the birthing process and in the entire process&period; This is a bill that&rsquo&semi;s trying to bring fathers back into their role&comma; and so that was the intent&comma;&&num;8221&semi; says Humphrey&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;I understand that &lbrack;women&rsqb; feel that is their body&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he continues&period; &&num;8220&semi;I feel like it is a separate &ndash&semi; what I call them is&comma; is you&rsquo&semi;re a &lsquo&semi;host&period;&rsquo&semi; And you know when you enter into a relationship you&rsquo&semi;re going to be that host and so&comma; you know&comma; if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don&rsquo&semi;t get pregnant&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Humphrey&rsquo&semi;s words have outraged pro-life and women&rsquo&semi;s rights advocates who argue that the bill takes autonomy away from women&period; Opponents took particular issue with Humphrey&rsquo&semi;s use of the word &ldquo&semi;host&rdquo&semi; to describe pregnant women&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HB1441 seeks to &ldquo&semi;unconstitutionally restrict women&rsquo&semi;s right to make their own medical decisions&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues James Owen of NARAL Pro-Choice America&period; &ldquo&semi;These fringe politicians are painting a macabre picture of what they want America to look like &ndash&semi; where women are merely vessels for childbirth and men have veto power over all of life&rsquo&semi;s decisions&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Owens blames Republicans for the content of the bill&comma; saying&comma; &ldquo&semi;There&rsquo&semi;s no question that ideological extremists across the country have been emboldened to introduce plans like this by the rise of President Trump and his backward ideology&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Supporters of the bill turned up at the Capitol last week to support lawmakers by offering them roses&period; Karen Alley&comma; a rose-bearer who works in Tulsa&&num;8217&semi;s Hope Pregnancy Center&comma; reminds us that &ldquo&semi;life begins at conception&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In other words&comma; &ldquo&semi;you become a mother at conception and therefore you become a father at conception&period; The fact that our young men and our young fathers don&rsquo&semi;t have a say in that choice is sad to me&period; It&rsquo&semi;s taking the rights of the father away&period;&rdquo&semi; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> As a student of human nature&comma; this is just unworkable&period; If the father is responsible enough to raise the child himself&comma; then he is like still with the mother&period; &nbsp&semi;If that is the case then probably he and the mother are making the decision together&period; If the father is not with the mother&comma; then he is probably not responsible enough to have input into the decision&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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