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Posted: Apr 05, 2019 10:53 AMUpdated: Apr 05, 2019 11:11 AM

Oklahoma House, Senate Pass Concurrent Resolution

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Garrett Giles

The House passed a Senate concurrent resolution this week urging the United States Congress to submit a Parental Rights Amendment. District 11 House Representative Darrel Fincher said that would be an amendment to the United States Constitution to the states for ratification.

Representative Fincher an advantage of doing this is to keep them in the forefront of parental rights in Oklahoma. He said it allows them to stay in the discussion as they show their commit to the matter.

Fincher said the measure recognizes our nation has historically relied first and foremost on parents to meet the real and constant needs of children. He said the interests of children are best served when parents are free to make childrearing decisions about education, religion and other areas of a child’s life without state interference.

However, Finch said the resolution does make an exception for decisions that would end life.

The resolution further points out that the United States Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) held that "this primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition." Yet, the Court in Troxel v. Granville (2000), a case dealing with a law in Washington state, produced six different opinions pm tje nature and enforceability of parental rights under the United States Constitution.

This created confusion and ambiguity about the fundamental nature of parental rights in the laws and society of several states. As a result, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana introduced in the U.S. Congress an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prevent erosion of the enduring American tradition of treating parental rights as fundemental rights. This resolution joins Oklahoma to this cause.

With the measure passing the Oklahoma Senate and the House, a certified copy will now be sent to President Donald Trump, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation.


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