Proponents of the bill predicted it would reduce not only abortion but child abuse, and linked the introduction of legal abortion to what they said has been an increase in the mistreatment of children.

Rep. Jeannie McDaniel, D-Tulsa, disputed that, saying child abuse is more thoroughly investigated and reported now than in the 1970s, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled abortion legal in most circumstances.

Virgin’s amendment to require sex education as part of the anti-abortion curriculum — something specifically excluded by the current language — was quickly tabled. The same happened with an amendment by Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, to include contraception in the bill.

“I hear you say this has nothing to do with sex education,” Dunnington said. “But children who are in the womb are there because people have sex. It doesn’t make sense not to include that.”

In an apparent dig at education savings accounts — a proposal working its way through the Legislature that would allow the use of state education funds for private schools — Dunnington suggested the creation of “contraception savings accounts” for teens whose parents hold them out of the anti-abortion instruction.