Last updated on April 2nd, 2010 at 04:12 pm
Oklahoma Anti-Privacy Abortion Law Blocked by Court
At the same time as Republicans are fighting Healthcare Reform and Universal Healthcare for all as a socialist program and denouncing government involvement in healthcare, they are inserting themselves in between a patient and her doctor, invading the patient’s privacy and medical history, and attempting to interfere in a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion in her first trimester.
“The law, House Bill 1595, requires physicians to ask patients, described as “mothers,” up to 37 personal questions, including their age, marital status, race, years of education, number of prior pregnancies, reason for the abortion, method of abortion and payment and whether an ultrasound was performed….
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An Oklahoma law mandating that detailed information about patients who have abortions be published on a state Web site was blocked by legal action on Monday.
The law was scheduled to take effect Nov. 1.
To challenge the state constitutionality of the law, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Oklahoma women…. Stapleton, a state legislator from 1986 to 1996, charges that the measure violates patient privacy protection that is guaranteed under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. She also says that it violates a woman’s federally protected right to choose without state interference during the first trimester of pregnancy.
“Women in small towns can be identified by nosey neighbors or, equally important, they can be misidentified when the guessing games start,” Stapleton said.â€
http://www.womensenews.org/story/reproductive-health/091020/okla-abortion-publicity-law-blocked-court?page=0,1
Not only do they want to interfere in privacy and grow government by duplicating information that is already collected by the CDC in Atlanta, but they want even more information collected, thereby increasing a cost to the OK tax payer by $281,285 the first year.
So, they’re legislating morality, inserting their religious beliefs into state law, inserting themselves in between a woman and her doctor, and separating a woman from her constitutional rights. Doesn’t seem very “small government” or “fiscally conservative” to me.
The bill’s Senate co-author Todd Lamb, a Republican, issued the following press release, acknowledging that this law is an attempt to scare women from exercising their constitutional rights:
“”This legislation is essential in protecting the sanctity of life,” Lamb said. “Too often the life of the unborn is taken for granted and I applaud my colleagues for their bipartisan support of a pro-life measure, despite attempts on the floor to sabotage this issue important to families across our state.”â€
Any more “small government” and “fiscal conservatism” added to their Teabagging mix of venomous nationalism and this here would be a Theocratic or even Fascist state. One wonders when exactly someone will call the Republicans on this mind-numbingly contradictory platform?
Republicans are no longer true conservatives, but rather have been co-opted by the Galtist Glibertarian types who’ve replaced “conservative values” with hate and survival of the fittest mentalities, as evidenced with their “just pray” healthcare reform and stimulus refusal “ideas”, ironically buttressed with “Christianity”.
Yes, Christianity in the form of busted cheats like Mark Sanford who claim he can do whatever he wants because he’s “chosen” by God and Jesus. It all amounts to a feeling of entitlement so pervasive within the Republican party that I fear they’ve never stopped to question if their current platform makes any sense at all. Let’s face it; no one with a working brain could function with all of the discrepancies and contradictions within the current Republican “value” system.
Meanwhile, women are barely clinging to their constitutional right to maintain medical control over their own bodies as Republicans use any means necessary, even privacy violations, to enact their moral agenda over the constitution.
I’d really prefer it if they would stick to their “small government” mantra and stop trying to interfere in women’s medical privacy and rights. Especially as they scream about the dangers of government run health care, and the possible privacy invasions it could lead to.
Privacy invasions? Oh really? I had no idea that was a problem for Republicans. Looks like privacy invasion and control over our bodies is their goal.
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