Oklahoma is ostensibly one of the most conservative states in the union, yet over the past several years, Republican lawmakers in the state have failed to truly end abortion.
But when four elected Republicans in the Oklahoma Senate voted against equal protection of the laws for preborn babies earlier this year, they were censured by the Oklahoma Republican Party, signaling that the conservative grassroots have finally had enough of their failure.
Republicans have maintained governing trifectas in Oklahoma for well over a decade, enjoying control of the governorship, the Oklahoma House, and the Oklahoma Senate. The state is so thoroughly Republican that every single one of the 77 counties has been clinched by the Republican presidential candidate for the last six national election cycles.
As with many other conservative states, Oklahoma has a pervasive problem with “Republicans in Name Only,” since their elected officials govern far to the left of the broader Republican voting base.
That has even impacted the ability of Oklahoma to handle the persistent issue of abortion.
Even though leading Republican officials like Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt claim that pro-life laws in the state have been effective at “banning abortion” from the moment of conception, there still exist massive loopholes which allow for legalized baby murder to continue.
Because current pro-life laws forbid women who willfully have abortions from facing penalties, self-induced abortion has flourished in Oklahoma even after the closure of the surgical abortion mills.
One estimate from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion predicted that nearly 2,900 preborn babies were murdered on Oklahoma soil through methods like the abortion pill, not to mention the 4,000 babies murdered by Oklahoma parents traveling out of state. Many conservative states like Oklahoma have seen the largest increases for abortion pill orders in the country over the past few years as women turn to such methods in the absence of abortion mills.
That is why Oklahoma State Sen. Dusty Deevers filed Senate Bill 456, known as the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act, which would have simply extended the laws already protecting born people from homicide and assault to also protect preborn people. Several equal protection bills have likewise been introduced across the country this year in various state legislatures.
Does the GOP need to be doing more?
🚨BREAKING: Sen. @DustyDeevers has filed SB 456 to abolish abortion in Oklahoma! pic.twitter.com/Dk3zUJf8lt
— Foundation to Abolish Abortion (@AbolitionistFAA) January 22, 2025
Deevers wrote in a statement earlier this year that “equal protection legislation simply recognizes the basic truth that preborn image-bearers of God are equally valuable as born image-bearers of God and removes abortion as an exception in homicide laws.”
But when the bill came for a vote in the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee, the legislation failed to advance because four of the six Republicans voted against the effort. Those lawmakers were Sen. Brent Howard, Sen. Todd Gollihare, Sen. Darcy Jech, and Sen. Paul Rosino.
Delegates to the Oklahoma Republican Party made clear that such a move was inexcusable.
When they assembled earlier this month for their biennial state convention, they overwhelmingly passed a resolution censuring those four Republicans for voting against Senate Bill 456.
The resolution observed that the platform of the Oklahoma Republican Party makes clear “civil authorities have a duty before God to uphold justice by establishing equal protection under the law for all preborn children,” meaning that the four lawmakers were at odds not only with the platform, but were also “in blatant violation of the Word of God.”
As video captured by Abolish Abortion Oklahoma appears to prove, the vote to censure the lawmakers and encourage Republicans in the state to “withhold all support from their political careers” was overwhelming.
“The culture is waking up. The more you deal in treachery, the more the church notices,” Abolish Abortion Oklahoma reacted.
Video of the vote: pic.twitter.com/mRDll3JrW9
— Abolish Abortion Oklahoma 🌳🪓 (@AbolishAbortOK) May 3, 2025
The censure vote shows that beyond a general distaste for “Republicans in Name Only,” who refuse to represent the interests of conservatives even in deeply red states, the grassroots expect conservative interests to be prioritized specifically on the issue of abortion.
More everyday conservatives and Christians are learning that legalized abortion has not ended in their states, and they are increasingly motivated to close the loopholes which allow thousands of their preborn neighbors to be murdered every single year under cover of law.
As a result, they are willing to extract a hefty political cost from any lawmakers who stand in their way, even if they claim to be conservative or pro-life Republicans.
“The successful censure vote indicates that the Christians and conservative grassroots are broadly on board with equal protection and abolition,” the Foundation to Abolish Abortion said of the successful censure vote.
“Though many Republican lawmakers in conservative states continue to oppose abortion abolition, the strength of their opposition is waning, largely because the grassroots in such states desire a true end to legalized abortion.”
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