A bill advancing in Oklahoma would require a woman to get the written consent of the fetus’s father before obtaining an abortion.
The bill, which passed out of a House committee Tuesday, would also require a woman “to provide, in writing, the identity of the father of the fetus to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion,” according to the bill’s language. “If the person identified as the father of the fetus challenges the fact that he is the father, such individual may demand that a paternity test be performed.”
The bill’s author, Republican State Rep. Justin Humphrey, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in an interview with The Intercept earlier this month, Humphrey said that men should be able to have a say over the fate of a fetus, and suggested that a woman has greater responsibility in a relationship for preventing pregnancy because she would be the “host.”
“I believe one of the breakdowns in our society is that we have excluded the man out of all of these types of decisions,” he said. “I understand that they feel like that is their body,” he said of women. “I feel like it is a separate – what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant,” he explained. “So that’s where I’m at. I’m like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in.”
The bill, as well as the description of woman as a “host” who “invited that in,” has provoked outrage from many corners, including Jill Biden, wife of former vice president Joe Biden.
Reproductive rights groups on Tuesday expressed outrage about the measure, which they said clashed with a Supreme Court decision from two decades ago striking down a Pennsylvania law that required a woman to get her husband’s permission before obtaining an abortion.
They said it could be particularly harmful in cases of domestic violence, when a woman may not be comfortable talking to her husband about such matters.
“It is shameful that Oklahoma politicians advanced this measure, which is demeaning, patently unconstitutional, and puts women in abusive relationships at risk,” Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “We call on the Oklahoma legislature to reject this outrageous measure and trust women to make their own health care decisions.”
(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Sandhya Somashekhar
