To Comfort The Afflicted
And Afflict The Comfortable

To Comfort The Afflicted And Afflict The Comfortable

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Observercast

Lamb’s Hypocrisy

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BY JAMES NIMMO

I’m always amazed at the Oklahoma GOP’s use of bold-faced lies and hypocrisy which they throw around like a herd of diarrhea-infected cattle drops fecal material in a barnyard.

I’m referring to the pious, crocodile-tear streaming expressions coming from GOPer Sen. Todd Lamb who is the sponsor of HB 1595, now a law being challenged in an Oklahoma County courtroom by two Oklahoma women’s rights activists. This law requires doctors to send to the Oklahoma Deptartment of Health the answers to 37 questions asked of women who have chosen to end their pregnancies.

A sample of these questions can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/ygj6v4b

If Sen. Lamb is so concerned with the “sanctity of life” as he has said in public interviews, why has he voted against the health and welfare of living children and their mothers?

I’d say the principal author of HB 1595 has abandoned both sick kids as well as women who need contraceptives to space and control the most intimate aspects of any woman’s life – her own control of her reproductive decisions.

Reasonable people who want to reduce the number and need of abortions understand that the obvious requirement is to prevent pregnancy in the first place. This can be done with appropriate, unbiased medical information and planning services delivered unhindered by the medical professional of the patient’s choice. Not by legislators who are practicing medicine without a license, yet this is exactly what’s happening in Oklahoma.

Here’s a sample of Sen. Lamb’s voting record which doubles as an indictment of his hypocrisy and his deliberate violation of women’s privacy used to further his political agenda for higher office.

Todd Lamb voted against the “All Kids Act” in 2007, a bill giving health insurance to 42,000 poor Oklahoma kids with money from a tobacco tax passed in 2004. This was SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Todd Lamb didn’t allow three bills to be heard about contraceptives assigned to his Health & Human Resources Committee in 2007:

Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergency [SB 105] – Would have required health care facilities that provide medical care to rape victims to offer emergency contraception as a treatment option.

Contraceptive Equity [SB 104] – Would have required insurance companies to cover contraceptives at the same rate that they would cover any other prescription drug.

Patient Protection Act [SB 555] – Would have required that pharmacies fill prescriptions for contraceptives and provide over-the-counter emergency contraception, or follow guidelines set forth to fill a prescription in a timely manner.

Sen. Lamb needs to sit down and have an adult “birds and bees” lesson with a medical professional instead of a bull session with the good ol’ boys. But the good ol’ boys, and gals, are more likely to contribute to Lamb’s lieutenant governor’s race than will sick children and pregnant women.

James Nimmo lives in Oklahoma City and is an occasional contributor to The Oklahoma Observer

3 COMMENTS

  1. I concur with Mr. Nimmo and applaud the actions of Wanda Jo Stapleton for her work both when a representative in the State legislature and all the service and labor she performs every day for the welfare of our people and our state. Oh, that those of Sen. Lamb’s ilk could but understand that the more they try to harm the mothers, the daughters, the sisters, the aunts of this state with their perverted agendas against women, the more we will continue to claim our rights—both in the courts and in the voting booths across Oklahoma!

  2. Spending taxpayer money to legislate morality is what the Republicans in Oklahoma are all about. This money would be better spent on prevention rather than buying the “religious” vote in Oklahoma.

  3. Legislating morality is something that the Taliban and the Republican party have in common. Trying to make your religious beliefs into law puts the Republican party into the same category as the Taliban. Both the Taliban and the religious right in America believe that their way is the right way. The political position of these people seems to be: You don’t believe the way that we do so we are going to make what you believe against the law. How is that different from the Taliban? The real American Taliban is not the guy who went to train with them, as dispicable as that is, but the equivilant in this country who like the Taliban want to control the choices that individuals can make based on religious beliefs. Republicans are always spouting off about no government intrusion into peoples lives and they are the very people trying to intrude the most. Their hypocrisy is obvious to anyone not blinded by a holier than thou ideology.

Arnold Hamilton
Arnold Hamilton
Arnold Hamilton became editor of The Observer in September 2006. Previously, he served nearly two decades as the Dallas Morning News’ Oklahoma Bureau chief. He also covered government and politics for the San Jose Mercury News, the Dallas Times Herald, the Tulsa Tribune and the Oklahoma Journal.
Mark Krawczyk
Mark Krawczyk
March 9, 2023
Exceptional reporting about goings on in my home state as well as informative opinion pieces that makes people think about issues of the day...........get a SUBSCRIPTION FOLKS!!!!!!!
Brette Pruitt
Brette Pruitt
September 5, 2022
The Observer carries on the "give 'em hell" tradition of its founder, the late Frosty Troy. I read it from cover to cover. A progressive wouldn't be able to live in a red state without it.