Anti-abortion Oklahoma lawmakers continue to push for tighter restrictions on abortion.
Right now, the legislature is considering a bill that gives "personhood" status to embryos and requiring women seeking an abortion to first listen to the heartbeat of a fetus.
In protest of the personhood bill, Senator Constance Johnson introduced an amendment to the personhood bill declaring every sperm is sacred. Her amendment states: “Any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.”
The senator later voted with her colleagues to table the amendment and told the Guardian newspaper her amendment was to prove a point;
“As a woman and a 31-year veteran of the legislative process in Oklahoma, I am increasingly offended by state law trends that solely focus on the female's role in the reproductive process. With Oklahoma's new, never-before-experienced Republican majority, we are seeing enactment of more and more measures that adversely affect women and their rights to access safe medical procedures when making reproductive healthcare decisions.”
The personhood bill is currently being debated in the Health and Human Services committee.
