House Passes Major Pro-Life Bill During First Week of Session

February 10th, 2020

By State Rep. Brad Boles

The Legislature has officially concluded our first week of the new session, and we hit the ground running. I’m pleased to report that the House has already passed legislation that is a major win for the pro-life movement in Oklahoma.

On Thursday, the House overwhelmingly passed House Bill 1182. This bill was authored by Rep. Jim Olsen of Roland and was coauthored by 20 other representatives, including myself.

The bill would direct the Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision and the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners to revoke the licenses of physicians who perform abortions. The licenses would be suspended for one year. There is an exception in place for physicians who perform an abortion to save the life of the mother.

I was proud to not only serve as a coauthor of the legislation, but also to debate in favor of the bill’s passage. During my debate, I shared with my colleagues why this bill, along with other pro-life legislation, was so deeply personal to me.

37 years ago, a high school student in Oklahoma became pregnant. She was faced with a difficult choice—to raise the baby herself, have an abortion, or give the baby up for adoption. Ultimately, she made the selfless decision to give the baby up for adoption.

That baby I’m referring to was me. Thanks to my birth mother’s decision, I was adopted at birth from an Oklahoma City hospital and raised by my parents, Kris and Lynne Boles, in Marlow right here in House District 51. Every day, I’m thankful that I was not an abortion statistic like so many millions of innocent babies have been and still are across our country. I’m thankful that my birth mother chose life and that God blessed me with wonderful parents and three siblings, and now my wife and I have two kids of our own. I felt led to speak up on behalf of all those innocent babies that were in the same situation that I was at one point, that never had the opportunity to advocate for their own life, and ultimately someone chose to end on their behalf.

We know that every single person, born and unborn, has dignity because they were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. I was proud to debate in favor of HB1182 and proud to stand with my colleagues in the House as we reaffirmed that every person has a right to life.

Earlier in the week, I joined my fellow lawmakers from the House and Senate, as well as dozens of statewide elected officials as we heard from Gov. Kevin Stitt for his second state of the state address. He discussed his ideas for economic development, continuing to reduce government waste, increasing our state’s financial stability and financial reserves. All in all, it’s been a great start to a new session. Next week we’ll resume our regular committee schedule and work to pass more bills that will benefit our state and citizens.

I encourage my constituents to stay engaged and reach out to me with your opinions of certain bills or of a particular issue. As your state representative, it’s my job to be your voice at the State Capitol and I want to represent you and District 51 well.

God Bless.