OKLAHOMA CITY, March 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The people of Oklahoma will not be able to vote on a statewide motion that would have made abortion illegal.
Proposed Question 782, Initiative 406 would have amended Article 2 of the state constitution to equate abortion with murder.
Noting objections to previous personhood amendment campaigns, the question specifically stated that it “would not prohibit contraception that merely prevents fertilization.”
The amendment further clarified that it “would not prohibit practices such as in vitro fertilization,” but any child conceived by that manner “could not be deliberately destroyed.”
If its sponsor, Thomas Hunter, had gathered the necessary 123,725 signatures, voters would have had the issue put to them on a statewide initiative.
Today, the state Supreme Court closed that door.
“The proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution is facially unconstitutional,” the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided today in a two-page ruling.
The ACLU challenged the proposal in court on February 12, and it garnered the attention of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton believes Oklahoma women have a constitutional right to safe, legal abortion and to contraception, and they deserve to be able to make their health care decisions without interference from government or extreme special interest groups,” said Maya Harris, a senior policy adviser with Hillary for America, on behalf of the Clinton campaign.
“Banning abortion and common forms of birth control is not only unconstitutional – it is bad for the health of Oklahoma women,” she said. “This initiative petition should be challenged and, if it makes it on the ballot, rejected by Oklahomans.”
But its sponsor said it is Roe v. Wade that violates the will of the Founding Fathers.
“You can search day and night through the Constitution, and you will never find one line supporting the idea that human beings can be deprived of the right to live simply because they are small, weak, and unwanted,” said Thomas Hunter, the man behind the initiative.
The ruling is the second setback for personhood in a matter of weeks. Earlier this month, the Oklahoma State Senate procedurally blocked a bill introduced by Sen. Joe Silk that would have classified abortion as first-degree murder.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court made a similar ruling against a personhood initiative in April 2012.
The resolution would have read:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA THAT THE FOLLOWING
SECTION BE ADDED TO ARTICLE 2 OF THE OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION:
A. As used in this section:
1. “Abortion” means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device to intentionally kill an unborn human being;
2. “Unborn human being” means the offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until either live birth or death, including the human conceptus, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo and fetus, whether conceived and/or located inside or outside the body of a human female;
3. “Conception” means the fertilization of the ovum of a female individual by the sperm of a male individual.
B. It shall be unlawful for any person to perform, procure, or attempt t o perform an abortion.
C. Any person who performs or procures an abortion shall be guilty of homicide.
