CNN correspondent Lucy Kafanov joined CNN Newsroom host Ana Cabrera on Wednesday to denounce a new pro-life Oklahoma bill using all the usual pro-abortion euphemisms and labels. Kafanov also lamented the effect the bill will have on women from Texas who have been going to Oklahoma to obtain abortions after Texas passed their own pro-life law.
Cabrera led off the segment by reporting that “Oklahoma's legislature has just passed a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony. The Republican governor is expected to sign this legislation” which she described as “the most restrictive abortion law in the country.”
After introducing Kafanov, Cabrera declared “this bill far surpasses Texas’s so-called heartbeat bill” and asked “what does it say?”
Kafanov reported that under the bill, abortions will only be able to be performed “in cases of life-threatening medical emergencies with punishments including fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to ten years behind bars.”
She then proceeded to warn that once Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the law “without judicial intervention, abortion rights will effectively end in Oklahoma over the summer.”
Even worse, from Kafanov’s perspective, is the effect Oklahoma’s bill will have on women in Texas:
And what's happening in Oklahoma is going to impact women across the region. After Texas Republicans approved their controversial abortion ban, women from the Lone Star State started flocking to Oklahoma for reproductive health services. Approximately 45% of Texas patients who have left the state for abortions have come to Oklahoma for treatment according a recent study from the University of Texas at Austin.
Continuing with the euphemisms, Kafanov further lamented “this leaves women in the region with extremely limited options for reproductive health and of course, Ana, women we’re talking about women who can afford to travel out of state for treatment, who can afford to take time off work to find child care. If you are poor and you live in Texas or soon Oklahoma, you could soon be left with virtually no options.”
Kafanov concluded that the bill is part of a pattern to pass laws that “curtail abortion rights” in hopes that the Supreme Court will soon strike down Roe v. Wade. Still, Kafanov tried to end on an optimistic note, “And that has prompted left-leaning states like Colorado to enact laws enshrining women to the right of having an abortion regardless of what happens at the federal level.”
Oklahoma seeking to protect innocent babies is an assault on “reproductive health,” but Colorado’s bill, which is so radical it goes beyond Roe by allowing abortions up until birth, is about protecting rights. This is CNN.
This segment was sponsored by Best Western.
Here is a transcript for the April 6 show:
CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera
4/6/2022
1:47 PM ET
ANA CABRERA: Oklahoma's legislature has just passed a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony. The Republican governor is expected to sign this legislation. If and when he does it will be the most restrictive abortion law in the country. CNN’s Lucy Kafanov joins us now. Lucy, this bill far surpasses Texas’s so-called heartbeat bill. What does it say?
LUCY KAFANOV: That's right, Ana. Perhaps the only thing that supporters and opponents of the bill agree on is that it's one of the harshest anti-abortion measures in the nation at the moment, a near total ban that would make it a felony for doctors and medical professionals to perform abortions except in cases of life-threatening medical emergencies with punishments including fines of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to ten years behind bars. Now this does not provide exceptions in cases of rape and incest.The Republican governor promising to sign this into law. When he does, without judicial intervention, abortion rights will effectively end in Oklahoma over the summer. And what's happening in Oklahoma is going to impact women across the region. After Texas Republicans approved their controversial abortion ban, women from the Lone Star State started flocking to Oklahoma for reproductive health services. Approximately 45% of Texas patients who have left the state for abortions have come to Oklahoma for treatment according a recent study from the University of Texas at Austin.
So, this leaves women in the region with extremely limited options for reproductive health and of course, Ana, women we’re talking about women who can afford to travel out of state for treatment, who can afford to take time off work to find child care. If you are poor and you live in Texas or soon Oklahoma, you could soon be left with virtually no options. And all of this part of a broader push by Republican-led states to curtail abortion rights in anticipation of a pending Supreme Court decision on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court, if they uphold that law, it could result in Roe v. Wade being overturned or substantially weakened. And that has prompted left-leaning states like Colorado to enact laws enshrining women to the right of having an abortion regardless of what happens at the federal level.
