Oklahoma, what (on earth) have you done?!

Oklahoma just enacted legislation (HB 2656) which allows a doctor to “withhold information, mislead or even blatantly lie to a pregnant woman and her partner about the health of their baby if the doctor so much as thinks that fetal test results would cause a woman to consider abortion.”

Seriously?

Read that again.  It says that a doctor can LIE to a pregnant woman about the health of her child.  The Oklahoma legislature deliberately discussed and passed a law, allowing this!  So in Oklahoma, if I’m pregnant and have a genetic test, and it indicates that my child has any variety of genetic diseases, some of which would cause his/her death immediately after birth or lead to life in a vegetative state or render my child unable to walk, talk, see, hear, or even think, my doctor is allowed (encouraged, even? otherwise, why even pass legislation?) to LIE to me about MY baby.

It’s sickening!

This is yet another indication to me that America is moving backwards.  My parents immigrated to this country from Europe in the early 1950s because America was progressive, open-minded, and filled with opportunity.  Their grandson, my son, is now considering relocating to Europe after he graduates from college in two years.  It's things like THIS that make that seem like a good option to me, and if I were 20, I'd seriously consider bringing the family back to its European roots too. 

The rest of the world is progressing now while America reverts to closed-mind, fanatical fundamentalism.  This is no longer the country my parents immigrated to almost 60 years ago and, in spite of a progressive, open-minded, smart president (who I still adore and support), it no longer feels like my country.  And I’m sure it no longer feels to my dad like the country he immigrated to as a German Jew who dared to hope for a better life for his family when he immigrated here in the early 50’s.

America, where have you gone?  America, please start THINKING (with reason and compassion) again!