The Oklahoma Legislature may have to go back to the drawing board for another law detailing what women must go through to get an abortion.
A recent decision from Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson ruled that a law the Oklahoma Legislature passed in 2008 is " go, figure " unconstitutional, according to a recent story in The Oklahoman.
At CFN, we're shocked " shocked, we tell you! " that such an august body would make unconstitutional laws! The law as passed was covered at the time in the pages of this noble publication, wherein doctors and legal types seriously questioned the requirements that doctors performing an abortion make an ultrasound of the woman's womb and then make her hear a description.
If that doesn't sound weird enough, consider this: It wasn't your normal, smear-stuff-on-the-belly-and-rub-a-little-doohickey-on-the-outside-of-the-tummy ultrasound. This particular ultrasound requires a wand inserted in the woman's lady parts, which one doctor said was being called "rape by instrumentation" against an unwilling patient.
However, the judge didn't rule on those lines, according to the story. She ruled the law unconstitutional because Oklahoma's voluminous constitution requires that a bill deal with only one subject at a time, and this one apparently was a compilation of five bills, written by different people, stuck together. The other provisions in the law restrict use of the abortion drug RU-486 and protect health care providers refusing to conduct the procedure, according to the story.
"I don't think it violates the single-subject rule," said the bill's author, state Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond. "There are multiple provisions and sections of this legislation, and the argument could be made that it's pro-life all the way through."
Rep. Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, chimed in, too. "I think the life issue is definitely worth fighting for," said Peterson, House sponsor of the law. "I think the judge ruled on a technicality and not on the true substance of the bill. It's a setback, and if the state doesn't appeal the ruling, we will continue to stand for life in this state."
The attorney for the state, Teresa Collett, special assistant attorney general, said the appeal would be won.
"We're optimistic that, should we appeal it, we would prevail," she said.
