Okla. Judiciary Committee Pass Bills To Protect Children and Pregnant Women From Abuse

A handful of bills were heard in Wednesday’s judiciary committee that work to give some extra protections to victims in the state. Two bills passed unanimously through- one allowing protection orders for child abuse victims and one clarifying that domestic abuse against a pregnant women is considered a felony.

Currently under state law you can get a victim protection order for a number of things including physical abuse, stalking, and harassment. Today a bill passing through a house committee would add a protection for child abuse victims.

“If a child is caught in a situation or a parent is caught in a situation where they know one parent is abusive, they can step in and file a protection order,” said Rep. Carl Newton, (R-Cherokee).

Senate bill 291 allows any adult to file a protective order on behalf of a child abuse victim. It can be any grandparent, family member or adult that files the order for that minor.

“It just makes sense, it's a common sense bill that we don't wanna put our children at risk no matter what the situation is,” said Rep. Newton.

Rep. Newton said this was a request bill from a constituent in his district, and the Senate author's district- Sen. Murdock.

During the judiciary committee, Rep. Newton used an example of divorced parents with shared custody of their child. He said if one parent was aware the other was abusing the child, this new law would allow the parent to file a VPO, and for the courts to handle it from there.

“It's kind of scary to think that I as a parent have to turn my child over to another parent who is not gonna treat them properly. We wouldn't do that for anybody else,” said Rep. Newton.

This is just a handful of bills going through this session that work to give more protection to children. News9 spoke with Joe Dorman, CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, about some of the legislation. 

“We certainly need to go to every effort possible and by doing a protective order, that should keep those kids safe,” said Dorman.

He says this bill will go a long way to curb child abuse incidents in the state.

“Oklahoma is one of the worst states in the nation for dealing with long term trauma issues and child abuse and neglect are some of the factors included in with that,” said Dorman.

Representative Newton says he hopes this bill sends a message to Oklahoma parents: that legislators are putting protective bills as a priority this session. 

“We want to make sure our children are treated properly and we care about them,” said Rep. Newton.

The bill passed unanimously through the House judiciary committee today and now heads to the House floor. If it’s approved, the new law would take effect November 1.

Also passing through the same committee today was Senate Bill 1046 that reclassifies domestic abuse against a pregnant woman as a felony.

This bill also increases the maximum prison from 1 year in county jail to 5 years in prison.

It outlines that knowingly assaulting a pregnant woman will be up to a 5 year sentence, a second offense will be 10 years in prison, and if there’s any damage to the baby, it’s up to 12 years in prison.

The House author of the bill, Representative Robert Manger, said it’s a straightforward bill, that nobody should get away with harming an expecting mother.

“It should be a felony to assault a pregnant woman knowing she is pregnant. Children and pregnant women are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and that should not be tolerated on any level,” said Rep. Robert Manger, (R-OKC).

The bill passed unanimously and Rep. Manger says they have not had much pushback from either side this far, so he’s hopeful it will pass both chambers and be signed into law.

The bill is now headed to the House floor.