Oklahoma Republicans ignored the Constitution to such a degree that the only doctor in the state’s Senate called the bill that makes performing an abortion a felony “insane.”
The Tulsa World reported:
The Oklahoma Senate on Thursday sent Gov. Mary Fallin a bill that would make it a felony to perform abortions in Oklahoma, despite a federal court case legalizing it.
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The measure passed by a vote of 33-12 with no debate.
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The Senate’s only physician, Sen. Ervin Yen, R-Oklahoma City, called the measure “insane†and was certain it would be challenged in court.
Oklahoma’s Senate Republicans decided to ignore federal law, and pass their own new anti-abortion legislation that will most certainly be ruled unconstitutional roughly 17 seconds after it is challenged in court because they decided that federal law does not apply in the state of Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma law making abortion performance a felony is part of a much larger problem. Elected Republicans all across the United States are untethered from reality. It doesn’t matter to them that it is against federal law to make performing an abortion a crime. It doesn’t matter that the law that they passed will certainly be tossed out in court.
The next time a member of the pundit class or political press moans about partisan division and how the country has failed to come together, keep in mind that the problem is that the Republicans have decided to make their own rules. There can be no common agreement when one of the two parties is being guided by crazy.
Republicans aren’t playing with a full deck, and they have decided to create a fantasy America where they don’t have to follow laws that they don’t like. We are seeing it at the federal level as Mitch McConnell, and Senate Republicans have decided to ignore the Constitution and obstruct President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, and we see it at the state level with bathroom laws and clearly illegal abortion restrictions.
The only hope for America coming together as one nation guided by the same set of facts is if Republicans get treatment for their collective mental illness.
Image: TLO
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
