Gov. Brad Henry vetoed two pro-life bills Friday, and the House voted to override at the first opportunity Monday.
“I am proud that the House moved quickly in support of the sanctity of life by overriding the veto of these important pieces of pro-life legislation. This is clearly not a partisan issue,” said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. “We must move to stop the degradation of human life seen in recent years and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.”
House Bill 2780, by state Rep. Lisa Billy, requires that doctors provide women information obtained from an ultrasound prior to performing an abortion.
Although ultrasounds are already routinely conducted immediately prior to an abortion, those pictures and the information obtained from the ultrasound are not provided to women.
“This legislation does nothing more than give women as much information as possible before they make the life-altering decision to have an abortion,” said Billy, R-Purcell. “I don’t want a single woman to go through the life-long torture of having an abortion without having all the relevant information.”
Research has shown that many women, after seeing an ultrasound, will opt to have a child. The House voted 81-14 to override the governor’s veto, which was above the three-fourths vote required.
The House also voted to override the veto of House Bill 2656, by state Rep. Dan Sullivan, which makes it illegal to sue a doctor claiming “wrongful birth” because the doctor failed to convince the mother to abort a child.
“This bill simply states that a doctor cannot be sued based on the opinion after birth that a child would have been better off if he or she had been aborted,” said Sullivan, R-Tulsa. “A bipartisan coalition of members supported this bill the first time, and I am pleased they did again today.”
The House voted to override the veto 84-12, again well above the three-fourths of the body required to override.
Both bills will return to the Senate for override consideration.
(Source: Oklahoma House Media Division)
