State Sen. Joseph Silk, R-Broken Bow, said he is being blacklisted by Republican leaders because he authored a bill to abolish abortion in Oklahoma.

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, removed Silk from a committee vice chairmanship because Silk promoted Senate Bill 13, which would have made abortion illegal in the state. That bill never received a vote in a committee because it was killed by Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Because of Senate Republican leaders, none of Silk’s bills have been heard on the Senate floor this session.

Treat claims the actions against Silk were taken because Silk supported a group called Free the States, which seeks to abolish abortion in Oklahoma. That group staged a protest with hundreds of people at the Capitol earlier in the session to demand a hearing on SB13. They didn’t get any reconsideration.

According to published reports, Treat said he can’t trust Silk. Treat didn’t speak with Silk about the demotion but instead left a letter in Silk’s office. Silk’s title as vice chairman was then scraped off his office door.

Silk said he has no control over what his supporters do in efforts to end abortion. Trent said he acted because Silk didn’t distance himself from those who want to end abortion.

Last week, Silk wrote a letter to several senators and said the people in his district are being punished because he disagrees with Republican leaders.

 “I have served in the U.S. Coast Guard under many different commands, held many different occupations, run a business and served in the State Senate under three different leadership teams and have never seen a more authoritarian leadership than we currently have,” Silk wrote.

Treat, who considers himself “pro-life,” took over SB13 from Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, and rewrote it to let voters decide to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which marked the legalization of abortion. SB13 was approved in the Senate and is now with the House.

Even if SB13 were passed, it probably would be overturned by the liberal Oklahoma Supreme Court. But abortion abolitionists would then challenge that in appellate courts and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court in a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

President Trump wants Rov v. Wade overturned and leave it up to individual states to determine the legality of aborting unborn babies.