BY KAREN WEBB

The Oklahoma Senate today voted to make the subject of one of these photos a person in Oklahoma. Can you guess which one?

Only an expert can tell a cat, from a horse, from a human at this stage. No. 1 is a puppy dog and No. 2 is a baby.

The bill’s author, Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, told Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, that men and women have exactly the same rights with regards to reproduction.

He seems to be unaware – even with the number of single mothers in Oklahoma – that fathers can abandon fertilized eggs at conception, and often do, but mothers can’t.

The bill says that life begins at conception, but doesn’t define conception. When Sen. Johnson asked why he hadn’t defined it, Sen. Crain said it was personal.

She asked why there was no exception for rape or incest and he said there didn’t need to be, even though it gives the same rights to either of the natural parents.

He commented that he hoped his daughters would chose life, although he doesn’t seem to want to give them that choice. I hope his daughters are never raped, but if they are I hope they are just as open to having the father/rapist have equal input into what is to be done with the results as Grandpa is.

Sen. Ralph Shortey, R-Oklahoma City, got really hot and bothered and said his wife would always protect a child. Then he said if someone had a gun pointed at the head of his wife and another at a two-year-old child, she would protect the child.

I am guessing he would feel the same if the gun was pointed at a one of the one-cell fertilized eggs that are attached.

Shortey adores his wife and, to prove it, he provided dinner for her on Valentines Day. This is supposed to make it OK for the entire Oklahoma Legislature to be able to butt in at her OB/GYN appointments.

I had my first well-woman exam this morning and the last thing I would want looking over my doctors shoulder is the Oklahoma Legislature.

– Karen Webb lives in Moore, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer