Letter to the Editor: Concerned
BY Hazel Williams, Pryor
Sunday, April 15, 2012
4/15/12 at 3:43 AM
I am beginning to have serious concerns about our Oklahoma Legislature. I believed, perhaps naively, that our Legislature should be made of strong, intelligent, moral people. The opinions of their constituents should be important to them but that ultimately they would vote their conscience - not just vote in a way to hold their jobs.
Lately, our Legislature seems to be taking lessons from the Taliban. The Taliban controls all aspects of the lives of women living under its control. Is that what the people of Oklahoma want? Do they want women to be chattel, totally at the control of the men in their world.
The latest bill, House Bill 2381, seems to be another, and exceptionally stupid, attempt to control women. What good would requiring a doctor to be present do when a woman takes the morning-after pill? What is the intent? To humiliate women? To increase doctors' workload or income? To bring more unwanted babies into the world? What is especially appalling about this bill is that it was written by a woman.
Oklahoma has some serious problems, such as inadequate funding in schools, high school drop-out rates, teen pregnancy, drug use, decaying bridges, bad roads, etc. I would like to see our Legislature concentrate on these serious concerns rather than attempting to control women, changing our state motto, or deciding whether or not to sell corkscrews in liquor stores.
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