Plan B Forum

Lawmakers in the US state of Oklahoma have passed a bill that would make the act of performing an abortion a crime.

Under the bill, a doctor who performs an abortion could be sentenced to up to three years in prison and be barred from practising medicine in the state.

Abortion is legal in the United States and abortion-rights activists say the bill is unconstitutional.

The legislation now heads to Governor Mary Fallin who has previously backed curbs on abortion.

Two abortion clinics remain in Oklahoma after the state recently enacted a number of new regulations on the facilities.

Ms Fallin, a rising star in conservative circles, has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Anti-abortion groups said they hoped to use the bill to trigger a legal case that would overturn Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court verdict that made abortion legal in 1973.

Gob wrote:100 years.

Anti-abortion groups said they hoped to use the bill to trigger a legal case that would overturn Roe v Wade

MajGenl.Meade wrote:It cannot, in itself. This is the point, apparently:

Anti-abortion groups said they hoped to use the bill to trigger a legal case that would overturn Roe v Wade

Oklahoma lawmakers want to declare an emergency to pass an anti-transgender bathroom bill

Updated by German Lopez on May 20, 2016, 12:40 p.m. ET @germanrlopez german.lopez@vox.com

On Thursday, Oklahoma legislators seemed to do something drastic: They proposed a bill that would declare an emergency to effectively stop transgender students from using the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their gender identity in public schools.

The proposal came in response to the Obama administration's guidelines telling federally funded schools to let trans people use the bathrooms and locker rooms for their gender identity. The guidance inspired some hysterical reactions — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for one, tweeted, "JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the women's restroom. We must get our country back on track."
RelatedAnti-transgender bathroom hysteria, explained

So it would seem like Oklahoma's reaction is just the latest in an ongoing hysteria over transgender people and bathrooms.

Oklahoma legislators are absolutely overreacting. For one, they also proposed "articles of impeachment" against President Obama over the guidelines.

And in defending their bathroom bill, Oklahoma lawmakers have touted a myth that protections for trans people will allow men to disguise themselves as women to go into women's bathrooms or locker rooms and sexually assault or harass women. But several states and schools have had policies that let trans people use the bathroom or locker room for their gender identity for years, and they've never reported any sexual assaults or harassment linked to their policies.

Washington (CNN)Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday vetoed a bill that would criminalize abortion procedures in the state.

"The bill is so ambiguous and so vague that doctors cannot be certain what medical circumstances would be considered 'necessary to preserve the life of the mother,'" said Fallin, a Republican who is considered among the contenders to be presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Drumpf's running mate.

BoSoxGal wrote:Sanity prevails:

rubato wrote:

BoSoxGal wrote:Sanity prevails:

Lets not go overboard.