By Journalist Sweety Patel (OU)
Representative Hensley from Tulsa University brought the “Women Are Not Without Political Power” bill to this session. This bill aims to repeal 21 O.S. §861. It is a criminal statute banning abortion. This Oklahoma law was enjoined Under Roe v. Wade. Due to this enjoinment, the state passed a trigger law that would cause it to go into effect as soon as Roe was overturned. 21 O.S. §861 was made into law more than 100 years ago, at a time when women and people of color did not have the right to vote.
Roe was overturned earlier this year, making the law go into effect. Many laws around the country that were enjoined like §861 with Roe also went into effect.
“My biggest concern since the passage of Dobbs v. Jackson has been that line that Alito wrote in the opinion when he said, we (women) are without political power, and I’ve been concerned with trigger laws and other bans like the 1910 ban that were written in past prior to women having the right to vote, like how can we have political power if the law that govern our bodies were written before we even have the right to vote and so this legislation is genuinely just me seeing a miscarriage of the democratic process, and waiting to rectify that,” said author Hensely when asked how they came up with their bill and why it is important to them.
When asked about how they think the bill went in the House, the author states that it went in the House with great debate and great questions. They also mentioned the necessity and importance of repealing the law.
“It gives people a chance to make their voices heard and I feel like especially like we’re a democracy, that’s the most important thing. So in that way, I think it’s extremely necessary to do what must be done to make sure our democracy survives,” said Hensley.
Their bill passed the House with a majority vote.