In regional news, a new law working its way through the Oklahoma senate would make it illegal to perform abortions in the state, reports KFOR.
The bill, known as SB 1118, would also declare anyone who performs an abortion guilty of first degree murder. Republican state senator Joseph Silk authored the bill, which has already passed the Health and Human Services Committee. However, the first degree murder penalty was actually added after the bill passed the committee.
The bill is now being held up. Republican Senate leaders have so far refused to let the bill be heard on the senate floor. The leadership insists that Senator Silk’s bill goes too far. Silk, in response, says he’s shocked members of his own party are standing with Planned Parenthood. Even some pro-life groups oppose the bill because it targets families who use in-vitro fertilization to conceive.