Women Win

   

 In May, 2013 the Oklahoma Legislature passed House Bill 2226.  This new law told females under age 17 that they must have a doctor’s prescription for getting over-the-counter emergency contraception (called Plan B or the morning after pill).  This contraception if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex will most likely prevent pregnancy but will not terminate an existing pregnancy. 

However, getting an appointment with a doctor for a prescription could cause unacceptable delays.

Equally bad, a female age 17 and older must prove her age with identification which she may or may not have.

Thankfully, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights joined the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice in filing a court challenge to this new law.

 In response, on January 23, Oklahoma County District Judge Lisa Davis struck down this new law. She called it unconstitutional because it violates the single-subject provision of the Oklahoma Constitution.  Specifically, the Oklahoma Constitution declares that “Every act of the Legislature shall embrace but one subject.”     However, section one of the new-law-in-question deals with insurance regulation and section two deals with prescription drug benefits.   

Judge Davis was simply following the law --- the Constitution’s ban on multiple subjects in one bill.

Finally, the legislature has passed a barrage of bills over the last few years which oppose abortion. One would assume that abortion foes would be among the strongest proponents of all types of contraception.  Or maybe it’s all about controlling women’s bodies?

Wanda Jo Stapleton  

Former State Representative

A Modest Proposal

Oklahoma Tied For Last Place

I just added a new link under Healthcare for a great article that a medical professional sent me from the 7 June 07 issue of Business Week called "The Sorry States of Health Care".

Sadly but not surprisingly Oklahoma is tied with Mississippi for the title of the worst healthcare in the United States.

The article explains that under current Federal law, states have full authority over how health care is delivered, paid for and monitored. States regulate insurers and hospitals. They run the public health systems and most importantly they decide who is and who isn't covered by Medicaid and SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program). To me that means that Oklahoma can do better if they work at it.

During the last legislative session, the Governor was able to increase the number of insured Oklahoma children in SCHIP by 40,000. He was able to accomplish this despite strong opposition from Lance Cargill, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

One would think that the state legislature would have been eager to fund this new initiative considering that they are always saying how important children are to the future of Oklahoma. They also say education is important, but again education funding was finalized too late for the school administrations to effectively budget for the coming year. Most people realize that healthy children learn better and the only way Oklahoma can ever help all children learn better is to be sure they are healthy enough to learn.

Well, our state legislature barely passed the bill. The Speaker of the House, Lance Cargill voted against the bill and also tried to have it killed in committee. His kids have good insurance so I guess that's all that counts to him.

I am convinced that the only way we will ever have Better Oklahoma Government is if we start electing better Oklahoma legislators.