Tax money may be funding anti-abortion movement
The amount of taxpayer money directly being spent on this initiative could be just another reason to go to the polls early this election year.
With the state legislature’s approval of the new abortion law last week, now comes the real test. Will it be on the local ballot to be voted on in March?
The issue, as always, is not only the abortion law but the tax money that goes with it.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there have been 21 such laws enacted by 12 states since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in America.
In Oklahoma, there is just one such law, passed by the Legislature in 2000 because, according to state Rep. Tim Wilson of Oklahoma City, it was passed under the assumption that if the state did not pass a law banning abortion, it would be on the ballot for the next vote.
“When abortion is first legalized in the country, there was a referendum on it, and it went 55 percent to 45 percent in Oklahoma to pass the law,” said Wilson, adding that the law has been a source of contention since then, with politicians often citing it as proof of their pro-life credentials.
Wilson said there has been plenty of controversy in Oklahoma City over the “yes” side’s use of taxpayer money, too. The “yes” side has made efforts to use state funds to help fund its activities, he said.
“One of the big things Oklahoma City has done is put up fences around the Planned Parenthood facility,” Wilson said. They’ve put up fences along the fence surrounding the clinic, he added. “We’ve been able to use state money to get our message out to people there.”
Wilson has been a vocal critic of an Oklahoma referendum passed this year that would have stripped Planned Parenthood’s state health funding because it does not include a funding source. The Oklahoma City suburb of Shawnee has led the effort to defund the federal “No” side