Oklahoma Pro-Life group: Vote NO on State Question 805
Measure Would Grant Leniency to Serial Abortion-Law Violators
(October 15th, 2020 -- Oklahomans for Life) We urge your strong opposition to State Question 805 because of its effect on abortion in Oklahoma. State Question 805 is a proposed constitutional amendment which is on the November 3rd General Election ballot.
State Question 805 prohibits increased sentences (sentence “enhancements”) for repeat offenders who continue to commit “non-violent” felonies, thus limiting the time habitual criminals spend behind bars. Under State Question 805, abortion is classified as “non-violent.”
Even under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, there are circumstances under which states can protect the lives of unborn children, and Oklahoma’s legislature has done so. Our state has passed laws prohibiting certain types of particularly heinous abortions – for example, partial-birth abortions – the commission of which are felonies.
Partial-birth abortion is a procedure in which the abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal, except for the head. The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, then inserts a tube into the wound and removes the baby's brain with a powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby. Committing this heinous act in Oklahoma is a felony. Incredibly, under State Question 805, this is classified a “non-violent” felony.
Two other pro-life laws, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, would be similarly impacted by State Question 805. These are precisely the types of crimes for which State Question 805 would bestow on abortion criminals a “get-out-of-jail” card.
Oklahoma has had a particularly sordid history with abortion-industry practitioners. In the years since Roe v. Wade, media reports have chronicled two different instances in which Oklahoma-City-area abortionists have killed their wives. One of the abortionists was convicted of murder. [see link]
The other abortionist was convicted of manslaughter in his wife’s death. [see link]
According to court records, another abortion-mill operator, this one at an infamous Tulsa facility, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. The intended target of the murder-for-hire plot was his partner in the abortion mill. [see link]
Press reports indicate that yet another notorious abortionist was shut down for exploiting women and committing fraud, in some cases telling women they were pregnant when he knew they were not, and then selling them abortion-inducing drugs. Imagine the anguish of going through life believing you had aborted your baby – when, in fact, you had not actually been pregnant – just so a greedy shyster could exploit a woman’s panic in order to get a big fee. [see link].
It is against this appalling and despicable backdrop that State Question 805 would treat abortion criminals as “first-time offenders” – even if, for example, they committed partial-birth abortions repeatedly as a business model – imposing on them only the same light fine or penalty each time. Compounding the injustice, State Question 805 is a constitutional change, which means the legislature could never go back and add partial-birth abortion to the list of “violent” crimes eligible for enhanced sentences for repeat offenders.
For these reasons, we urge you to vote No on State Question 805.
Thank you.
Tony Lauinger
State Chairman, Oklahomans for Life
