Oklahoma in the News

I usually cringe when I see a story about Oklahoma in the national news or on one of the political program shown on MSNBC or CNN. More times than not the news or story is not flattering to the Sooner State. What is usually reported is some backwards law the state is considering or has passed or we get to hear about some off the wall quotes provided by one of our two bat shit crazy Senators, Tom Coburn or Jim Inhofe. Case in point: The Rachel Maddow Show ran a story about a new abortion law that starts on November 1st. While I was aware of the law, it pained me to see our legislative ridiculousness aired for the whole country to see.

The new provision requires an official record of all abortions performed in the state so that it can be posted and viewed publicly online. Here is what's being reported:

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
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions

Does the information violate the privacy provisions in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)? What happened to doctor/patient confidentiality? It's probably only a matter of time before the courts knock down the legislation. In the meantime we can continue to be the laughing stock of the Union while women in Oklahoma are discouraged from exercising their rights.

Below is the segment I saw last night:

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