Subject: For Comms Approval: statement on Oklahoma abortion bill
From: "Wei, Shu-Yen" <[email-masked]>
To: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>, "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>, "Freundlich, Christina" <[email-masked]>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, "Walsh, Tom" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 May 2016 10:34:48 -0700

SL: Trump's Republican Party Has Already Started Punishing Women in Oklahoma

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In yet another effort to dismantle women's health, the Republican-led Oklahoma Legislature passed <http://abc7ny.com/politics/ok-lawmakers-pass-bill-making-performing-abortion-a-felony/1345901/> an unconstitutional bill, over the objections of their lone physician legislator, that would making performing an abortion a felony and prevent any doctors who have performed an abortion from practicing in the state.

This is just the latest example of Republicans across the country<https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2015/01/just-last-four-years-states-have-enacted-231-abortion-restrictions> taking their cues from Donald Trump, who has a decades-long record of denigrating women and promoting misogyny. He stated that<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/30/donald-trump-there-has-to-be-some-form-of-punishment-for-women-who-get-abortions/> "there has to be some form of punishment" for women who get abortions and would take away<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/05/18/donald_trump_supreme_court_picks_reactionary_republicans.html> a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions.

"While Donald Trump talks about punishing women for abortions, but Republican legislatures in states like Oklahoma are actually doing it. State lawmakers have enacted hundreds of abortion restrictions over the past few years, making it harder and more dangerous for women to obtain abortion and health services. Democrats will continue to stand against Republican politicians getting involved in a woman's personal health decisions." - Shu-Yen Wei, spokeswoman for the DNC

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