House Bill 1595 bad for women
Justin Combs
Senior Writer
An ill-conceived law passed last year by the Oklahoma Legislature would put more barriers in the way of a woman’s right to an abortion — if allowed to take effect.
Health reproductive services are a personal matter where information should be confidential between doctor and patient.
House Bill 1595 would put an end to that.
The bill requires women seeking an abortion to fill out a questionnaire with the results posted on a state-funded Web site. That exceeds the current reporting requirements.
It asks for the age, race and education background of the mother, total number of abortions prior to the current one, abortion method, anesthesia information, and a series of questions about the father.
Critics of the bill say the questions are so extensive that a woman living in a rural community could be identified, even though her name does not appear on the questionnaire.
This begs the question: what’s the goal — to humiliate women who have an abortion? This is nothing but a sneak attack to slowly outlaw abortion in the state and infringe on a woman’s personal choice.
Rep. Ryan Kiesling (D-Seminole), who voted against the bill, said the Web site would cost $250,000 a year to build and maintain, and has nothing to do with decreasing abortions.
“The bill is entirely aimed at making it more difficult for women to have access to their constitutional right of reproductive services,” Kiesling said.
Keri Parks, director of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, agrees the true aim of HB 1595 is to make it more difficult for abortion providers to deliver health care services to women.
“The statistical reporting involved in this bill does nothing to improve health outcomes,” Parks said. “In fact, it may put women’s protected health information at risk of inadvertent disclosure.”
A restraining order has been placed on the bill for violating a provision of the state constitution that restricts a bill to a single subject so it may be awhile before it takes effect, if it does. Currently, the bill also assesses: a fine up to $100,000 for being accused of performing gender-selection abortion and a fine of $500 per day for a doctor who doesn’t submit the questionnaire with 30 days of an abortion.
requiring invasive questionnaires and intimidating doctors with heavy penalties only shows some lawmakers still prefer the old-fashioned method of instilling fear instead of providing knowledge to help their constituents.
