Work to protect life far from over

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, putting this important matter back in the hands of the states where it belongs. Since its passage in 1973, some 63 million babies have tragically had their basic rights taken away before they could even speak or act to defend themselves.

While this is a tremendous victory, our work to protect life is far from over. Oklahoma is well prepared and already has many laws in place to protect life at conception, but we must start thinking about how this federal court ruling will affect Oklahoma families and social services in the future and how we can better support families or the children who are unwanted by their birth parents.

I’m particularly interested in how this will impact our state’s foster care and adoption systems and what we need to do to strengthen these to better protect Oklahoma’s children. According to the State Department of Health, there were nearly 3,900 abortions performed in Oklahoma in 2020, which was a decline from previous years. These women and families will now need our help more than ever. We must remember that these individuals are typically in crisis and don’t make the decision to end a pregnancy lightly, but are under extreme duress, facing issues like addiction, poverty, abuse, mental illness, or other difficulties that can make the thought of having a child seem completely overwhelming and impossible. Parenthood is a blessing, but it’s also extremely challenging emotionally, mentally, and financially even for those in safe, stable, and financially secure households.

Approximately 500 children are legally ready to be adopted in Oklahoma annually and tragically, hundreds age out of the foster care system during that same time period without a family, oftentimes, putting them on a bad trajectory in life. Nationwide, there are some 400,000 foster children of which around 117,000 are waiting to be adopted.

To truly be a pro-life state, our responsibility to protect life doesn’t end when a child is born but continues as we ensure our citizens are properly educated on pregnancy prevention and parenting expectations or that birth parents have the tools and resources to properly care for their children. We also must have a system in place that ensures all children have access to safe, loving homes.

The first part of the battle has been won in Oklahoma by giving all babies the right to life but now we must ensure they have safe, stable homes to grow up in. We must encourage more families to consider opening their hearts and homes to fostering or adoption, because children not only deserve the right to life, they deserve to have a life where the pursuit of happiness, granted to us in the U.S. Constitution, is attainable. In Oklahoma, we must be more than pro-birth, we must be pro-life for these children through adulthood.

I’m anxious to hear your policy ideas on how to better serve Oklahoma families in crisis and their children, especially those who end up in foster care.

If you’ve ever thought about fostering or adopting, please visit the Oklahoma Fosters Resource website at https://okfosters.org/. 

In closing, I hope everyone has taken the time to exercise one of our greatest rights as U.S. citizens by voting in Oklahoma’s primary election. I voted early on Friday to avoid the long lines on Tuesday. This past Thursday, Stephen and I also had the pleasure of attending the Newcastle Chamber Banquet, which is always such a wonderful event.

To contact me at the Capitol, please write to Senator Jessica Garvin, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 237, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email me at Jessica.Garvin@oksenate.gov or call (405) 521-5522.