Last week, the Oklahoma state Senate approved several pro-life bills.

Senate Bill 1503 is a Texas style six-week abortion ban that would take effect immediately after it is signed by the governor.

Senate Bill 555 modifies the state’s trigger ban allowing pre-Roe v. Wade statutes to take effect if and when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Senate Bill 1552 would allow the State Department of Health to enter into contracts with private organizations for providing alternatives to abortion. Oklahoma is the second state — after Idaho — to vote into effect a six-week abortion ban modeled after Texas.

There were also two Joint Resolutions passed by the Senate. Joint Resolutions, if passed by both chambers, send the resolution to a vote of the people.

S.J.R. 37 would place a constitutional amendment in the state constitution eliminating a right to any abortion in Oklahoma.

S.J.R. 17 would place a constitutional amendment in the state constitution conferring full personhood- and the rights that come with it — from conception.

All the bills now move to the state House for consideration.

The American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) chapter says these bills would “decimate abortion access in the region.” According to the ACLU, Oklahoma has been a “lifeline” (interesting description) for Texans seeking abortion after Texas passed their six-week abortion ban. The ACLU claims half of all Texans who went out of state for an abortion in the last six months came to the Sooner state.

“Since the grave error of Roe v. Wade, states like Oklahoma have worked diligently to enact measures to protect the lives of the unborn. These bills passed by the Senate will further that work and will help sustain a culture in our state that values and protects life at all stages. I hope federal legal precedents allowing abortion are overturned, restoring Oklahoma’s ability to prohibit abortion once again,” Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.

Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director, ACLU of Oklahoma, said in regard to the pro-life bills:

“Oklahomans deserve access to abortion, without obstacles, stigma, or harassment, but local politicians are emboldened after witnessing the ongoing attacks across the country to time-sensitive, compassionate health care. Make no mistake, our state is at a crisis point in the fight to protect abortion. Forcing people to continue a pregnancy by taking away their ability to get an abortion is dangerous and a violation of their rights. It is an attack on human dignity. At every point in a pregnancy, a person’s health, not politics, should drive their medical decisions.”

Two observations:

First, abortion is a violation of the unborn baby’s right to live.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You can’t have liberty and the pursuit of happiness without life. No one has the right to take an innocent life. The true attack on human dignity and decency is when a culture has reached the level that killing life in the womb is celebrated as a basic right.

Second, there is no way to deny abortion is a form of killing.

Science confirms what the Bible says — life begins at conception. An embryo is not merely a cell with potential, but a distinct human organism. It fulfills the four criteria needed to establish biological life: metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction.

Pro-abortion advocates claim the organism is “not a person.” That is a completely unscientific argument based on their own moral or political philosophy. Medicine confirms the existence of a child before birth as a distinct human being. Fetal surgery has become a medical specialty and includes the separate provision of anesthesia to the baby.

Oklahoma is at a crisis point on the issue of abortion. Either the Sooner state becomes a safe haven for the unborn or it continues allowing children in the womb to be killed.

I encourage readers to contact their state Representatives and ask them to support the pro-life legislation listed above.

Note: Steve Fair is Chairman of the Republican Party in the Fourth Congressional District of Oklahoma. Steve’s conservative commentaries appear regularly at the CapitolBeatOK.com news website. Contact him by email at okgop@aol.com. His blog is stevefair.blogspot.com.