Trust Women speaks out against HB 1409 Senate vote

Yesterday, the Oklahoma Senate passed HB 1409 – a law that will further restrict women’s access to necessary health care. Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women and South Wind Women’s Center issued the following statement:

“HB 1409 is the latest in a series of laws that will make it increasingly difficult for Oklahomans to access necessary medical care. This bill expands the period of time a woman must wait to have an abortion after consent from 24 to 72 hours. HB 1409 is part of a paternalistic agenda of restrictions that relies on the false premise that women are not capable of making their own decisions about their health and life. Women are both morally and intellectually capable of deciding what is best for themselves and their family. We need lawmakers who trust women and improve access to necessary health care, not those who impose one harmful barrier after the next.

The action of the Oklahoma Senate today will only hurt Oklahoma women and their families. I am particularly concerned for the thousands of women who live and work long distances from clinics that provide abortion services. These women already face hostile, anti-women laws in Oklahoma; HB 1409 is a step in the wrong direction.

I call on all Oklahoma citizens to contact Governor Mary Fallin and urge her to veto this harmful bill that further restricts women’s access to health care.”

Trust Women opens clinics that provide full-spectrum reproductive healthcare, including abortion services, in underserved communities so that all women can make their own decisions about their health care. Trust Women works to expand access in the Midwest and the South.

The Gayly – April 22, 2015 @ 9am.