State Watch

Oklahoma GOP lawmaker wants abortion to be classified as felony homicide

KFOR screenshot

Oklahoma state Sen. Joseph Silk (R) wants to pass legislation that would have abortion classified as a felony homicide. 

“It’s gonna be classified as a homicide because, essentially, a fertilized egg is a human life just like a 1-year-old baby is a human life,” Silk told KFOR over the weekend. “So, an abortion would be considered intentionally taking a human life.” 

Silk’s proposed bill is titled the “Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act” and would direct the state to ignore decisions by the Supreme Court on abortion.

“The Attorney General shall direct state agencies to enforce those laws regardless of any contrary or conflicting federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, or court decisions,” the proposed legislation reportedly states. 

The bill would almost certainly be deemed unconstitutional if it became law in Oklahoma.{mosads}

Allie Shinn, deputy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, called the bill outrageous in a statement to the local station and added “this isn’t the first time that Senator Silk has demonstrated that he could use a refresher in constitutional law if he’s ever had any at all.”

“I’m not sure where Joseph Silk got to decide that he’s the morality police, but nobody elected him to do that,” Shinn said.

Pressed during the interview about what he would tell a woman who was sentenced to life in prison for having an abortion, Silk told the local station: “I don’t know, the exact same thing I would say to a mother who just killed a 1-month-old or a 1-year-old child.” 

“It’s a horrific act and there shouldn’t be any tolerance for it,” he said.

Silk said the number of abortions after rapes or cases of incest are “tiny” so there should not be exclusions.

“The numbers of rape and incest are so tiny, under half a percent. So, it’s almost not even an arguable question,” Silk told the station. “It is a human life, regardless of how it came to be.” 

In arguing that it was justifiable for Oklahoma to pass a bill that would ignore decisions by the Supreme Court, Silk noted its past support for slavery.

“The Supreme Court also ruled that slavery, you know, that slaves were private property and they were wrong,” Silk said. “And so, the courts do need to be challenged.”

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