§ 1-745.3. Legislative findings
Oklahoma Statutes AnnotatedTitle 63. Public Health and Safety
63 Okl.St.Ann. § 1-745.3
§ 1-745.3. Legislative findings
The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma finds that:
6. The position, asserted by some medical experts, that the unborn child is incapable of experiencing pain until a point later in pregnancy than twenty (20) weeks after fertilization predominately rests on the assumption that the ability to experience pain depends on the cerebral cortex and requires nerve connections between the thalamus and the cortex. However, recent medical research and analysis, especially since 2007, provides strong evidence for the conclusion that a functioning cortex is not necessary to experience pain;
10. The position, asserted by some, that the unborn child remains in a coma-like sleep state that precludes the unborn child from experiencing pain is inconsistent with the documented reaction of unborn children to painful stimuli and with the experience of fetal surgeons who have found it necessary to sedate the unborn child with anesthesia to prevent the unborn child from thrashing about in reaction to invasive surgery;
13. Oklahoma's compelling state interest in protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain is intended to be separate from and independent of Oklahoma's compelling state interest in protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage of viability, and neither state interest is intended to replace the other.
Credits
Laws 2011, c. 89, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2011.
63 Okl. St. Ann. § 1-745.3, OK ST T. 63 § 1-745.3
Current with emergency effective legislation through Chapter 257 of the Second Regular Session of the 59th Legislature (2024). Some sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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