The Three Pro-Life Men Keeping Abortion Legal in Oklahoma

The campaign website of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt reads, “I believe human life begins at conception and I’ll fight to protect the rights of the unborn in Oklahoma and across the nation.” Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Oklahoma State Senate 39-to-9, and in the State House, 77-to-24. Oklahoma Senate Bill 13, entitled “The Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act,” has been introduced. True to its name, OK SB13 would abolish abortion in the state.

“It is the intent of the Legislature to provide to unborn children the equal protection of the laws of this state; to establish that a living human child, from the moment of fertilization upon the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum, is entitled to the same rights, powers, privileges, justice and protections as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human person; and to treat as void and of no effect any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders and court rulings, which would deprive an unborn child of the right to life.”

Bill text: OK SB13

So why is abortion still legal in Oklahoma?

The answer will shock pro-life people. Abortion remains legal in Oklahoma because of National Right to Life Vice President Tony Lauinger, and because of pro-life State Senators Jason Smalley (R-Stroud) and Greg Treat (R-Oklahoma City). Lauinger, who also is President of Oklahomans for Life, has long lobbied against SB13 and previous versions of the bill. Smalley is chairman of the Oklahoma Senate Health and Human Services committee where SB13 has been assigned and Treat is the Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate.

These men, along with their allies in Oklahoma’s legislature, have committed to not hearing SB13, sentencing to death the roughly 5,000 babies who will be murdered in the state this year. In an article at The Oklahoman published on Saturday, Smalley and Treat explained that SB13 will not be heard in committee because it is unconstitutional. They’re wrong. The United States Constitution does not contain a right to murder a baby in the womb and no serious individual claims otherwise. According to former Dean of Stanford Law John Hart Ely, himself a supporter of abortion, “[Roe] is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be.” Roe was a transparent power grab by a court intent on becoming the engine of societal upheaval.

In 2016, Lauinger wrote a letter advising senators against supporting SB1118 (the 2016 version of SB13) because ending abortion would repeal the pro-life regulations Lauinger helped pass. A five-part video series showed Lauinger in a tense confrontation with supporters of SB1118 further explaining his reasoning. In doing so, Lauinger either outed himself as the densest lobbyist in the country, not understanding that to end abortion, you have to get rid of regulations that allow abortion, or he is admitting that his priority is not ending abortion but maintaining his own legislative victories. There is simply no other explanation for his opposition. Lauinger continues to lobby against SB13 today.

According to The Oklahoman, Treat also said that passing SB13 and then losing a legal challenge could “hurt the pro-life movement.” This idea comes straight from Lauinger who has fraudulently argued that a hostile judge could strike down the parts of SB13 that end abortion while upholding the parts of SB13 that repeal pro-life regulations. Line 19 of page three makes SB13 inseverable. Lauinger and Treat either haven’t read the bill or aren’t being truthful.

Oklahoma State Senator Joseph Silk (R-Broken Bow), the author of SB13, said these men lack an understanding of our founding document.

“The Senators who oppose SB 13 have zero knowledge of the Constitution and how our republic is supposed to work,” Silk said. “They believe that the courts are all powerful and can decide whatever they like whether it is constitutional or not.  They also have no intention of doing what they campaigned on and actually protect innocent life. “

Smalley and Treat are participating in the charade that pro-life politicians have been putting on for some time. They claim their hands are tied, ignoring the fact that their oath is to the Constitution, not the Supreme Court. Their oath to the Constitution obligates them to ignore Roe v Wade. When the Supreme Court so egregiously and intentionally violates the Constitution as to legalize murder, the only appropriate response is to tell the court to pound sand.

Indubitably, all fifty states are presently in defiance of the United States Constitution. If Smalley and Treat have read the Constitution, they know this. By allowing abortion, they mock their oath of office and rebuff their Creator.

Silk also said he is confident that SB13 would pass if brought before the committee and then the Senate for a vote.

“If SB 13 came to a committee or full senate vote it would pass with a majority,” said Silk. “The Oklahoma Senate is overwhelmingly pro-life Republicans in public and votes, however [Smalley and Treat] will do whatever they can to keep it from coming to a vote because they don’t want to [do] something that is controversial and impactful.”

“The biggest thing in way of SB13 is [Smalley] not willing to give it a committee hearing.  He claims to be a conservative Christian who believes that life begins at conception and he is refusing to even allow SB13 a hearing in his committee. “

State legislatures allowing nine justices’ unconstitutional, arbitrary, and evil whims to rule the union is moral anarchy and legal insanity. Rejecting the court to re-institute the inalienable right to not be murdered would be a return to the Constitution. Nothing less than abortion’s total abolition and Roe’s total nullification will satisfy the demands placed upon us by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and most importantly the sixth commandment.

If Smalley and Treat subject their constituents to the tyranny of the Supreme Court and Oklahoma’s babies to the abortionist’s knife, they should be primaried by people who aren’t cowards.