Americans United for Life to discuss policy, court cases at city event

Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive officer of Americans United for Life Action, will visit Oklahoma City April 8 (Monday) for a briefing on pro-life efforts across the nation.

Monday evening’s event is 6-7:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, Chesapeake Event Room, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. 

The long-standing bi-partisan sympathy for pro-life activism and legislation has continued in the current legislative session at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. On March 8, the state House of Representatives advanced, on an 81-13 vote, House Bill 1361.

The measure is sponsored by state Rep. Randy Grau, R-Edmond; state Sen. Great Treat, R-Oklahoma, is sponsor in the upper chamber.  

On the same day as the event in Oklahoma City, AUL will submit an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States for “Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice et al., v. Terry Cline, et al.”  

According to AUL Action, submission of the legal brief “reaffirms our commitment to overturn the temporary injunction against House Bill 1970 ‘The Abortion-inducing Drugs Safety Act.’ This Act, based on model AUL legislation and promoted by AUL Action, requires that abortion providers dispense abortion-inducing drugs only in the ways tested and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” The law has been challenged in the Oklahoma judicial system. 

AUL Action said, in a communication to CapitolBeatOK, its members are working with Grau and Treat “to upgrade the state’s parental consent law to further strengthen the rights of parents who have an underage pregnant child. The bill, which has already passed the state house, includes provisions that would establish a clear and convincing evidence standard before a judge can give a waiver to a minor seeking to avoid parental consent, would ensure a minor must go to a judge in her own county rather than anywhere in the state, and that the person giving consent for a minor’s abortion must prove their relationship to the child.”

AUL leaders contend, “These provisions help to ensure parents have the greatest chance possible to help their own child through a difficult situation.”

Monday evening’s event is 6-7:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, Chesapeake Event Room, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. (For more information or to RSVP, email Lindsay.bunker@aul.org.)