SHHHHHH! Oklahoma Librarians Barred From Even Saying The Word 'Abortion'
SHHHHHH! Oklahoma Librarians Barred From Even Saying The Word 'Abortion'
Robyn Pennacchia
July 22, 2022 02:54 PM
Over the last several years, conservatives have come to see themselves as great defenders of the First Amendment right to free speech, which they have taken to include not just government censorship but personal censorship, by other people who don't want to listen to them or who criticize what they have to say in any way whatsoever. It was certainly an unusual position for them to claim, particularly as they cheered for Donald Trump's plans to "loosen up the libel laws" (which would have required overturning New York Times v. Sullivan, probably the most important free speech SCOTUS decision in the last century) — but boy did they ever double down. Oh, how their at-will-employment-loving hearts broke every time someone was fired for being a bigot out loud, where people could hear them. Oh, how they've cried about "thoughtcrimes" and "doublespeak" and other terms they vaguely remember from the time they read 1984 in Freshman English, usually in the context of being expected to not be shitty to trans people.
And now, thanks to those same free-speech-loving conservatives, Oklahoma librarians are not allowed to say the word "abortion."
This week, a memo went out to librarians across Oklahoma County's Metropolitan Library System telling them that not only are they not allowed to assist anyone in looking up information on abortion, but they are not even allowed to say the word — noting that if they violate this and are found to have assisted anyone in any way with getting an abortion that they will be fined $10,000 and possibly thrown in prison. The memo also warned that there will likely be people coming into the library and trying to trick them into giving information on how to obtain an abortion for the purposes of collecting the $10,000 bounty.
After the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, Legal reviewed MLS's role regarding giving information on abortions and concluded that due to state law libraries have no role. Library staff should avoid the use of the word "abortion" and are not to assist in looking up information on either library PCs or even their own devices to aid in such a search. If a staff member gives any information on how to obtain an abortion, then that person may be found personally liable and will also make MLS liable. Civil penalties include a $10,000.00 fine, plus jail time, and the staff member will lose their job due to being informed by MLS and disregarding the warning. There may be people that go into public libraries and try staff on this just to see if they will give information on how to obtain an abortion just to report them (along the lines of 1st Amendment Auditors), so staff should be aware of this potentiality as well.
First of all, yes, we must digress: What the hell is a "1st Amendment Auditor"? Well, it's a person who walks around videotaping in a library, trying to trick librarians into asking them to stop doing that. Meanwhile, an actual literal walking violation of the First Amendment is requiring that this memo be sent. Second: It would technically be more legal for an Oklahoma librarian to assist someone saying they are a fiction writer with research on how to murder someone than it would be for them to help someone else find information on where they can get an abortion out of state.
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https://www.wonkette.com/oklahoma-librarians-barred-from-even-saying-the-word-abortion
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