GOP Lawmaker Slams Party Over Abortion Legislation

Oklahoma State Rep. Doug Cox (R) wrote in the Oklahoman that the Republican party supports abortion laws that don’t work “in the real world.”

“As a practicing physician (who never has or will perform an abortion), I deal with the real world. In the real world, 15- and 16-year-olds get pregnant (sadly, 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds do also). In the real world, 62 percent of women ages 20 to 24 who give birth are unmarried. And in the world I work and live in, an unplanned pregnancy can throw up a real roadblock on a woman’s path to escaping the shackles of poverty.”

“Yet I cannot convince my Republican colleagues that one of the best ways to eliminate abortions is to ensure access to contraception.”