title:  Oklahoma Republicans Pass Bill Completely Outlawing Abortion
text: If signed, the law would make Oklahoma the only state in the nation where abortion is totally illegal.It s unconstitutional and directly challenges the Supreme Court s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, but Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma passed the outrageous bill anyway.On Thursday, the Oklahoma Senate passed legislation making it a criminal act for a doctor to perform an abortion by a vote of 33-12, which basically outlaws the procedure statewide.GOP state Senator Nathan Dahm, who sponsored the bill, believes it is the state s responsibility to force women to carry every pregnancy to term. Since I believe life begins at conception, it should be protected, and I believe it s a core function of state government to defend that life from the beginning of conception,  he said.Governor Mary Fallin, an anti-abortion conservative, is almost certainly going to sign the bill into law, especially when you consider the fact that Oklahoma Republicans have passed several anti-abortion measures over the last few years.This latest and gravest attack on abortion rights makes it impossible for doctors to provide a legitimate medical procedure that many women need because the doctor who performs the abortion faces arrest and prison.According to the Chicago Tribune:Sen. Ervin Yen, an Oklahoma City Republican and the only physician in the Senate, described the measure as  insane  and voted against it.So even the only lawmaker in the Senate who actually has a medical degree thinks this legislation is absolutely crazy.It doesn t get any more clear how dangerous this bill is than that.Criminalizing abortion forces women to seek unsafe back-alley abortions as they become more desperate to end a pregnancy. And since doctors probably won t risk being imprisoned, it means clinics will shut down, thus depriving women of the option of a safe abortion. In short, Oklahoma Republicans want the state to go back to a time when women died in droves due to unsafe abortions.The Center for Reproductive Rights condemned the bill as a  new low  by Oklahoma Republicans and it is expected that a legal challenge will be immediately filed should it be signed into law.Featured image via Pixabay