A state senator in Oklahoma has introduced a bill that makes abortion a crime.
"No person shall perform or induce or attempt to perform or induce an abortion after conception. A person commits murder in the first degree when that person performs an abortion as defined by Section 1-745.5 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes," reads S.B. 1118 filed by Republican state Sen. Joe Silk.
Abortion, as defined by the bills, "means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug or any other substance or device to intentionally kill an unborn human being."
Silk said the unborn human being in the measure is the "offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until either live birth or death, including the human conceptus, zygote, morula, blastocyst, embryo and fetus, whether conceived or located inside or outside the body of a human female."
About 30,000 Oklahoma residents have signed a petition asking state lawmakers to ban abortion.
"[W]e hereby respectfully demand that our state government stop protecting the murder of children by abortion within its jurisdiction and establish justice for all pre-born human beings in our state," the petition reads, according to Christian News Network. "We demand that our legislators stop passing laws to regulate abortion and instead outlaw all abortion as murder."
The petition said the abortion ban should happen now, "not five, 10 or 15 years down the road. In short, we the people of the state of Oklahoma demand the total and immediate abolition of human abortion as the legal, constitutional and moral duty of our elected and appointed officials."
The Abolitionist Society of Norman is leading the call to outlaw abortion and said Silk's "bill aims to protect all children from destruction in Oklahoma, and bring Oklahoma law into compliance with the United States Constitution."
"This bill unabashedly defies the Supreme Court's perversion and denunciation of the constitutional right to life, and seeks to establish justice for those being deprived of life without due process of law," they added.
A counterpart bill has been introduced by state Sen. Nathan Dahm that will revoke the licences of any doctor who performs abortion.
Dam introduced S.B. 1552 that provides that "any physician participating in the performance of an abortion shall be prohibited from obtaining or renewing a licence to practice medicine in this state."
Those who will be found guilty will be imprisoned from one to three years.
"No person shall perform or induce an abortion upon a pregnant woman. Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than three years in the state penitentiary," the bill states.
The two bills will be tackled in a hearing at the Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday.
