The issue of abortion is already a ghoulish dichotomy in the United States where states like New Mexico have liberalized abortion access to the point of allying with the Satanic Temple and the bordering state of Texas is being sued for denying emergency abortion rights for women whose lives are in danger from their situation. While I am adamantly pro-life, I am also not so much of a stalwart on the issue that I would deny emergency operations for women that are physically suffering and are going to lose their children anyway. Those operations should be few and far between, but it’s clear there should be a line in the sand for some women like Katie Cox who have babies with conditions that cannot be remedied with any amount of support. Nevertheless, it appears that Oklahoma state lawmakers under the ever-increasing stupidity of Alliance Defending Freedom are trying to craft an invasion of privacy bill that would have women who have gotten an abortion placed on a government list that can be abused later.

            The context of my frustration with this legislation beyond Alliance Defending Freedom’s crusade against gay marriage which already has me against the legal organization is that the same sponsors of legislation like this are also pushing two distinct legislative agendas at the same time. They want women to procreate at a higher rate to fix the falling birth rate nationally which means that pregnancies will have to happen more frequently while also voicing outrage at the wrong people having more children. If you need the language less sugarcoated, many of the figures of the Southern Baptist Convention breed tend to want the children to be whiter and from rural areas instead of from the cities.

Despite proclaiming a sense of urgency about the falling birth rates nationally, there hasn’t been as much of a peep from most of these politicians regarding the collapse in black births which have collapsed by as much as a sixth of what they were in 2014, or 17%, proportionally compared to whites who have only seen a decrease of about an eighth, or 12%. When adjusting for higher incarceration, homicide, fatherlessness, and abortion rates that afflict the black community, the plight of African-Americans has gone entirely uncared for in this crisis of protecting the unborn despite many of these legislators concerns for the national falling birth rate. If we are to suggest that American birth rates need to increase, all Americans need to be welcome to feel comfortable enough to have children and have access to adoption rights when some parents inevitably drop the ball.

Now that I’ve gotten off my soapbox, the actual legislation that was crafted by state representative Kevin West (R-OK) would track how many abortions that a woman has had and when. In addition to their public health information becoming available for the government to scrutinize, this could also become weaponized to go after the people listed ranging from everything involving marital benefits to targeting them for criminal prosecutions. Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) has already shown a willingness to go into other states and demand information about Texans in an effort to dig up information to use against people he perceives as his political enemies. Regardless of the horrors of transgender surgery being forced on non-consenting minors, the issues of federalism come into play where Texas state authorities shouldn’t be able to cross over into another state to seek information about their residents who leave because they offer services that are not offered in Texas. For Oklahoma officials, Paxton’s invasion of state autonomy has opened a pandora’s box where women, who already are crossing state lines to seek abortions, could now have their medical histories summoned by state legislators and their standard of life become hindered even as they seek care elsewhere.

The consequences of this legislation will likely have unintended consequences for state lawmakers eager to increase birth rates. Women who have a history of illnesses or complications will likely consider leaving Oklahoma if they have a child or they will abandon having children if they decide to stay not wanting to die during childbirth. If they do have children, the sprawling families will shrink with Republicans in the state like Kevin West having stated that they’d rather imperil the lives of the mothers through every pregnancy rather than offer some emergency relief in the most extreme situations. This will slow the population growth of the state for the foreseeable future with the effects likely to manifest over the next few years as women consider the practical risk to their anonymity and safety simply for trying to have their children.

Sources: Oklahoma Pols Want a Database of Everyone Who Has an Abortion (msn.com)

Alliance Defending Freedom | Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)

Pregnant Texas Woman Kate Cox, Carrying Doomed Fetus, Sues to Get Abortion (thedailybeast.com)

Texas asks Georgia clinic for transgender youths’ records | The Texas Tribune

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253547/the-satanic-temple-to-open-free-abortion-clinic-in-new-mexico

Texas GOP leaders reject ban on associating with Nazi sympathizers | The Texas TribuneWeird Texas GOP bill would give big tax cuts only to hetero couples with lots of kids – LGBTQ Nation