By John Michener

Year after year, beginning in 2016, abolitionist legislators have run bills intended to finally and completely abolish abortion in Oklahoma. Thank you, Senators Hamilton, Deevers, and Silk, for courageously speaking up for our preborn neighbors in the Oklahoma Legislature by authoring these bills.

Every year these bills are ignored or voted down in committee. Therefore, it came as no surprise when on February 19, 2025 that the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee once again rejected the Abolition of Abortion Act, which would have guaranteed the right to life and equal protection for our preborn neighbors. Our deepest appreciation to Senators Shane Jett and Lisa Standridge, the only two senators who agreed with God and our constitutions by voting yes. Thank you! However, four “pro-life” Republicans voted to continue the bloodshed: Senators Gollihare, Howard, Jech, and Rosino.

For decades we have been told that Democrats are the primary enemy of preborn children; but with Republicans firmly in control of so many red states, we see now that it is not radical abortion advocates who are denying justice for innocent human beings, but self-proclaimed “pro-life” Republicans. But why? The answer is that most Republicans reflect our culture and have made their peace with abortion. They are not fully committed to protecting every preborn human being equally.

Instead, Republicans seem to be rallying around yet another symbolic, do-nothing bill being marketed under the scary word “trafficking.” House Bill 1168 is purported to be a ban on abortion pills, but it does not actually apply to those legally buying and selling abortion drugs: “This act does not apply to a pharmacist or a manufacturer or distributor of drugs…” Furthermore, it specifically protects certain abortifacient drugs mislabeled as contraceptives: “Nothing in this act may be construed to prohibit the use, sale, prescription, or administration of a preventive contraceptive measure, drug, chemical…if…used, sold, prescribed, or administered in accordance with manufacturer instructions.”

You may be wondering why I am making such a fuss over this trafficking bill. “What’s the harm? It might be a small victory we need to build morale, and maybe we could prosecute a pimp who gets caught passing out pills. That would be something, anyway.”

Let me explain the dark side of this scheme. A ban on private abortion pill trafficking makes a mockery of the rule of law and true justice. By prescribing the proper channels through which to purchase a murder weapon, legislators teach the population that the act of murder itself is acceptable. Legislators do not seem to care that women murder their children by abortion – only that they might procure the murder weapon from an unregistered, unregulated, and untaxed agent. One must murder only through government-approved channels.

In contrast to HB 1168, Governor Stitt ought to ask the Oklahoma Legislature to criminalize the USE of abortion pills by anyone and institute punishment for perpetrators. Such a measure would provide equal protection under the law. It would represent true justice and save thousands of lives.

Last year this mostly meaningless language did not advance, but on March 25 of this year it passed the House 77-19, perhaps in part because it is being pushed by Students for Life Action (SLA). SLA recently sent tens of thousands of letters to likely Republican voters in Oklahoma, trying to drum up grassroots support for HB 1168.

The arguments in the SLA letter are spurious at best. First, they claim that “the abortion industry has been…committing abortion in Oklahoma.” No; the industry is not committing abortion. Parents are murdering their children by abortion.

Second, SLA claims “Chemical Abortion Pills are now being trafficked into the state…” Not really. While there might be a random pimp providing abortion pills to women under his influence, the vast majority of murder by abortion is protected by Oklahoma law. Drug traffic flows freely and legally into the state through Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and online pharmacies and distributors. House Bill 1168 would not touch this ongoing abortion pill traffic.

Third, SLA makes the ridiculous claim that abortion pills are being “pushed on women who are experiencing unplanned pregnancies.” Wrong again. These women have not passively caught the disease of pregnancy. Dangerous pills are not being jammed down their throats against their will to cure a disease. No; women are freely making the calls and clicking the websites to acquire the pills to kill the kids they do not want.

Finally, SLA says, “As a result, preborn babies are losing their lives…” No; their lives have not been misplaced in some cosmic lost and found. Their lives are purposely being snuffed out by their parents and other influencers. According to SLA the solution to all of this is HB 1168, which I just demonstrated does next to nothing. The true purpose of SLA’s letter seems to be data-mining emails of pro-lifers and raising money for SLA. They ask for a donation five times and even use a fearmongering tone: “If you don’t act immediately to save the lives of preborn babies, it could be too late.” Poppycock! It is already too late.

Sadly, pro-life regulatory proposals like HB 1168 have always been the enemy of a truly righteous bill to abolish abortion. Weak, feel-good bills function as stumbling blocks to legislators who can no longer see the right thing to do. They will always choose the easier of two options. The compromise bill gets in the way of what is needed and necessary. Therefore, blame for the ongoing genocide of abortion lies directly with those pro-life politicians who support only symbolic bills of regulation instead of total abolition.

The false messages coming from the dark side of the pro-life establishment are effective because Republicans in power (1) secretly support abortion, or (2) do not believe they have the power to abolish abortion, or (3) hold false beliefs that lead them to keep protecting abortion. My experience is that elected officials fall into all of these categories, and it is up to the people of God to be the prophetic voice that properly instructs such officials, removes ignorance, calls them to righteous action, and holds them accountable.

In conclusion, a traffic light is supposed to indicate when it is safe to go, but it is never safe to use abortion pills, even if the state puts up a green light. Any traffic, legal or illegal, kills kids. Proposing to red light a minimal amount of private traffic, while green lighting the industrial-scale traffic of abortion pills is not good enough, and it sends the wrong message. There is no safe traffic. We must close the road completely. Parents who want to murder their children by abortion should be disciplined for playing in the traffic.

John Michener is the Director of Oklahomans United for Life (OUL). You can contact him at:

john.michener@oku4life.org