It ain’t all ‘er nuthin’, Oklahoma.

Oklahoma, you’re seriously NOT O.K.:

On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Implementing the measure will “cost $281,285 the first year and $256,285 each subsequent year.” 

Under H.B. 1595, the state of Oklahoma is going to spend over a quarter of a million of its taxpayers’ dollars annually to try to shame women into foregoing abortions. Isn’t that special? It’s almost enough to make one long for the martini-clouded days before Roe v. Wade, when women only had to deal with the life-threatening dangers of back alley abortions, without the additional stigma of government-sponsored Internet shunning.

The following is the posted information that the Gilead Oklahoma legislators believe will be generic enough to avoid that irksome HIPAA:

1. Date of abortion
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother
4. Marital status of mother
(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother
(specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother

That’s a whole lotta information about the mother, that, while it doesn’t identify her by name, certainly narrows her identity down, especially in the small towns that dot the Oklahoma landscape.

And another thing: Notice anything missing? Go ahead, re-read the list — I’ll wait.

[whistles, files nails, looks up]

Figure it out yet?  Bingo! The father, whom we assume had something to do with the pregnancy in the first place, doesn’t have to account for his actions at all.  Way to put women in their place, Oklahoma!

I think H.B. 1595 is fairly solid evidence against letting states opt out of any public plan that Congress may eventually include in the health care reform bill. Given the current condition of the country’s economy and employment rate death spiral, it simply is impossible for a vast majority of uninsured people living in those Republican states that don’t think their residents deserve the right to decent health care (or ANY health care, as the case may be in Oklahoma), to move to a state that does. 

Yes, down the road, the afflicted citizenry might find the will to vote out these "states’ rights" asshats who pass legislation intended to deny medical care to distinct classes of people, but that doesn’t help those who are living without insurance today. This country can no longer afford to wait to get a real public option passed for ALL the people, not just those who are fortunate enough to live in liberal enclaves.

Shame on you, Oklahoma.