abortion
Oklahoma bathrooms soon could be sporting more than toilet paper. A law requires anti-abortion signage in all public bathrooms. Pictured is an anti-abortion demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court, March 2, 2016. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Oklahoma health officials intensified the state’s anti-abortion campaign requiring signs in all public bathrooms at the same time the state Supreme Court knocked down a law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have hospital privileges near their clinics.

The state Board of Health adopted rules to implement the Humanity of the Unborn Child Act, requiring anti-abortion lessons in classrooms, an information webpage for the state Department of Health based on the anti-abortion website awomansright.org, and public bathroom signs that read, “There are many public and private agencies willing and able to help you carry your child to term and assist you after your child is born, whether you keep your child or place him or her for adoption. The state of Oklahoma strongly urges you to contact them if you are pregnant.” The sign also will have a link for the health department page.

The educational materials are aimed at developing “an abortion-free society,” teaching schoolchildren “abortion kills a living human being.”

The law requires the signs to be posted in 2018 in schools, public buildings, small businesses, nursing homes and hospitals at an estimated cost of $2.3 million. However, no money for the signs was appropriated, making the cost an issue for businesses.

“We don’t have any concern about the information they’re trying to get out to women about their babies and their pregnancy. This is just the wrong way to do it,” Jim Hooper, president of the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, told the Associated Press.

Women’s rights advocates said the proposed signs, which still need legislative and gubernatorial approval, are just another attempt to control women.

“For some reason, our state lawmakers continue to waste precious resources on attempts to undermine safe access to abortion care,” Misty Foley McKenna of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice told KWTV, Oklahoma City.

Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the Oklahoma American Civil Liberties Union, called the signage an “absurd and callous” effort “to shame and stigmatize women.”

“In addition to being a politically motivated attack on Oklahoma’s women, the requirement that many businesses, including restaurants, post signs that advance a backwards and misogynist agenda amounts to forced political speech, which is impermissible under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Requiring business owners to communicate a biased statement to their patrons falls well outside the State’s interest to regulate business,” Kiesel said in a statement.

Sen. A.J. Griffin, the bill’s sponsor, said lawmakers just want to make sure pregnant women have all the information they need to obtain proper prenatal care and other services.

“Information is essential to help young women understand that this is indeed a living human being, a developing baby,” Tony Launinger, executive director of Oklahomans for Life, told KTUL, Tulsa.

The state Supreme Court action involved a 2014 law that would have left Oklahoma and its 4 million residents with just one abortion clinic. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar Texas law, saying the requirements were unnecessary and aimed at shuttering abortion clinics.

"We find there is no evidence to support defendants' position that this legislation protects and advances women's health," the Oklahoma court wrote.

The state currently has just four abortion providers, Vice News reported.