Gov. Stitt says women have other options besides abortion

Governor Stitt was recently asked what's the plan to help women who are up against financial challenges.

"Is the answer to the socialist democrat left to abort poor kids?" asked Stitt.

That was part of the governor's response when on Sunday Fox News presented statistics on childhood disparities in Oklahoma.

Stitt took to Twitter after saying some Democrats are using poverty to justify abortion. 

According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, one in five Oklahoma kids live below the poverty line, nearly one in ten did not have health insurance and Oklahoma is a bottom ten state for child wellbeing.

“It’s ridiculous to kind of quote those kind of stats,” said Stitt.

This isn't the first time the governor has been asked about helping women who are forced to carry their child to term.

When he signed Senate Bill 612 into law back in April, he told reporters that there were other options for mothers faced with hard times.

“There’s a lot of programs out there, I want to encourage churches and those different organizations that can minister to folks that are pregnant and we can give those folks up for adoption,” said Stitt.

NewsChannel 8 reached out to Catholic Charities just to see if they'd be able to handle all the women who will no longer have abortion as an option.

“We serve fifty thousand people a year," said Deacon Kevin Sartorius, at Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma. "In Tulsa, at least, we like seventeen hundred abortions each year, so it would be an increase, but it really isn’t something that we wouldn’t normally operate in.”

Catholic Charities say they offer free services to families from their fresh market, housing for mothers, and sometimes help with adoptions.

“Whether it be baby food or bottles or things like baby wipes and diapers we try to get people the supplies that they need,” said Sartorius.

Which is just a portion of the services they offer.

“We see people in distress all day every day, it’s our job to interface with people who have challenges in their life and a lot of those are economic challenges, for decades and decades we have stood up and said we are a part of the solution and we have a responsibility to our brother or sister who is in need,” said Sartorius.

Gov. Stitt says women have other options besides abortion |News Channel 8