OKLAHOMA CITY (LifeSiteNews) — As pro-life lawmakers and governors continue to advance a raft of laws protecting the unborn in anticipation of the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, Oklahoma lawmakers have passed a sweeping new measure banning nearly all abortions in the state.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma’s House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve the new legislation, which will prohibit the killing of “a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth,” with narrow exceptions.
Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, a pro-life Christian and father of six who has promised Oklahomans he would “sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk,” is expected to put his signature to the measure as early as next week.
The new bill, HB 4327, was modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act, which utilizes a unique enforcement mechanism empowering private citizens to file lawsuits against abortion providers rather than relying on state prosecution.
RELATED: Texas becomes first state to implement ban on aborting babies with detectable heartbeats
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has told Nancy Pelosi, a pro-abortion Democrat, not to present herself for Holy Communion.
The archbishop is doing this to not only protect our Lord from sacrilege, but also to call Nancy Pelosi to repent from the grave sin of promoting abortion and from the sacrilegious communions that follow.
Archbishop Cordileone will now encounter sustained pressure to roll-back his decision, so we must stand with him today.
SIGN and SHARE this petition to stand with Archbishop Corileone as protects our Lord and Nancy Pelosi from further sacrilegious communions.
The Eucharist is the literal body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ and no Catholic who has committed a mortal sin is to receive Holy Communion until confessing that sin in the Sacrament of Confession.
Nancy Pelosi's soul is in grave danger, not least because of sacrilegious communions as she continues a career-long crusade in support of killing unborn babies, and so the archbishop has done the most charitable thing possible in calling her to repentance and barring her from Holy Communion until she repents.
We must stand with this brave shepherd today, whom the people of San Francisco are lucky to call their archbishop.
SIGN the petition to support Archbishop Cordileone's brave defense of Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Pelosi said in March that that abortion “isn’t about what is your religious belief” and that “this really gets me burned up, in case you didn’t notice, because, again, I’m very Catholic – devout, practicing, all of that. They would like to throw me out, but I’m not going,” she joked, “because I don’t want to make their day."
What she doesn't understand is that her soul is at risk because of her support for spilling the innocent blood of unborn babies.
In a letter last month to Pelosi, Archbishop Cordileone made clear that “should you [Pelosi] not [publicly] repudiate your advocacy for abortion ‘rights’ or else refrain from referring to your Catholic faith in public and receiving Holy Communion, I would have no choice but to make a declaration, in keeping with canon 915, that you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”
In announcing that the Speaker of the House is barred from Holy Communion, Cordileone made clear that he "will continue to offer up prayer and fasting for you [Pelosi].”
This is the heart of a true shepherd - Cordileone is a father willing to undergo all manner of insults and ridicule from the media and lukewarm Catholics in order to call one of his flock back to the fold.
SIGN the petition today to stand with Archbishop Cordileone as he faces into a storm of criticism.
MORE INFORMATION:
BREAKING: San Francisco archbishop bars Nancy Pelosi from Holy Communion
Pelosi: ‘Of course’ companies should pay employees to travel out of state for abortions
Bishop of pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi launches public campaign of ‘prayer and fasting’ for her
House Democrats vote to codify Roe v. Wade, legalize abortion on demand
Pelosi defends ‘pro-abortion Catholic’ stance, claims pro-lifers ‘don’t believe in governance’
**Photo: PatristicNectarFilms/YouTube**
HB 4327 was authored by Collinsville Republican Rep. Wendi Stearman, and contains exceptions if an abortion is deemed necessary to save the life of the mother, or if the unborn child was conceived in rape or incest reported to law enforcement.
Many pro-life advocates argue that there is never a circumstance in which abortion is medically necessary. Exceptions for rape and incest have also been slammed by many pro-lifers, who point out that a baby’s humanity is not contingent upon the manner in which he was conceived.
Even with its carveouts, however, the new Oklahoma legislation will still provide massive protections for the unborn in the Sooner State.
Once signed, the law is expected to be the death-knell for the remaining abortion facilities in Oklahoma.
“Two of Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics already stopped providing abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month, and an attorney for the two other independent clinics said Thursday they will no longer offer services once the bill is signed,” the AP reported Thursday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has characterized Oklahoma’s life-saving legislation as “extreme” and “ultra MAGA,” leading Gov. Stitt to blast the “failing” Biden administration for “trying to dictate and mandate behavior and using scare tactics against anyone who disagrees with their socialist agenda.”
“President Biden’s approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency, so they’re desperate to distract from his failing administration,” Stitt said.
HB 4327 is the latest pro-life measure to advance in the state’s Republican-led legislature, which has already passed roughly half a dozen new laws protecting the unborn this year.
Earlier this month, Gov. Stitt signed a different bill also modeled after the Heartbeat Act, banning abortions after about six weeks gestation. In April, he signed a law which would make it a felony to kill an unborn baby though abortion, though that law will only take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion at the federal level.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law today that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. pic.twitter.com/9W9cXUdm6o
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) April 12, 2022
Moves by Republican governors to severely restrict or outright ban abortion have ramped up following the unprecedented leak of a Supreme Court draft majority opinion earlier this month.
According to the leaked document, at least a 5-4 majority on the Court is angled to overturn Roe v. Wade when it rules in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
RELATED: Leaked majority opinion shows Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade
If the Court overturns Roe, individual states will once again be free to create their own laws regarding abortion, choosing to permit, restrict, or outright ban the practice.
A decision is expected in Dobbs any day.
Meanwhile, as governors and lawmakers in Republican states have responded by enacting laws to protect the unborn, many Democrat leaders have moved in the opposite direction, advancing legislation to hedge against pro-life efforts and shore up protections for the abortion industry.