A Democratic lawmaker on Thursday defended her satirical amendment to an anti-abortion bill that would outlaw Onanism in Oklahoma. A proposed “personhood” bill in Oklahoma would define human life as beginning at the moment of conception. In response, Oklahoma State Sen. Constance Johnson tried to amend the legislation to make it illegal for men to spill their seed outside a woman’s vagina.
“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,” she explained on The Guardian. “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 would ban all forms of abortion and to set up a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, which upheld a woman’s right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb. Critics of the bill have said that it wouldn’t just outlaw abortion, it would also affect common birth control methods, the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, in vitro fertilization, and stem cell research.
“My amendment seeks to draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women,” Johnson said.
“This amendment seeks to draw humorous attention to the hypocrisy and inconsistency of this proposal – from the Republican perspective of down-sized government and less government intrusion into people’s private affairs. Despite the great challenges our state faces, it is far more important that we address issues such as affordable healthcare to help improve our state’s ranking of 48th in health status; to create good, secure jobs that grow our economy; and ensure that all citizens have access to quality, affordable education.”
A similar bill to Oklahoma Senate Bill 1433 was defeated at the polls in Mississippi in November. Personhood USA, a Colorado-based Christian organization, hopes to get more “personhood” laws placed on several more state ballots this year.
