The Oklahoma Legislature approved Thursday a bill prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This ban could severely reduce access to abortion not only for women within the state, but also for those who have been traveling across its borders to avoid increasingly restrictive anti-abortion laws in the South.
The bill is based on one that was in effect in Texas in September. It bans abortion after cardiac fetal activity, generally around six weeks of pregnancy, and requires enforcement by civilians, allowing them to sue any doctor who performs or induces the abortion, or anyone who “aids or abets” one. The bill offers $10,000 in rewards for lawsuits that are successful.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, had signed a law this month that outlaws abortion entirely except to save the life of a pregnant woman “in a medical emergency,” and makes the procedure a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
But while that law will not take effect until late August, the bill the Legislature sent to Mr. Stitt’s desk on Thursday would take effect immediately if signed.
Planned Parenthood said its clinic in Oklahoma had seen a 2,500 percent increase in the number of patients from Texas in the months after that state’s law took effect. Some clinics have said they are not scheduling patients in anticipation of the governor signing the six-week bill. They fear they will be overwhelmed by the new deadlines for women.
“It will be chaos for plenty of our patients,” said Emily Wales, the interim president at Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “We already have too few appointments. Every time we get a new schedule it will fill in a matter of hours.”
She said that the clinic had been referring patients in Colorado and Illinois to the clinic. But with waiting periods and other restrictions already in effect, “there are absolutely people who cannot figure out the logistics of getting farther.”
Mr. Stitt had laughed about the flood of new patients from Texas when he signed the criminal ban this month, suggesting that the state’s highway patrol could “arrest the Texans that come across our border.”
“This bill will take care of that,” he said.
Mr. Stitt has said “we want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country.”
Despite the earlier criminal ban signed by the governor, the Republican-controlled Legislature has been considering several other anti-abortion measures, including the one passed on Thursday. This strategy aims to stack bans on top and close any loopholes.
Oklahoma is also considering a bill that would ban abortion 30 days after the start of a woman’s last monthly period, before many women realize they are pregnant. This law would also effectively ban abortion because it has a 72-hour waiting time.
Thursday’s bill would allow for exceptions to save a mother’s life in a medical emergency. It also allows for exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest as long as they are reported to law enforcement.
State Senator Julie Daniels, a Republican and a sponsor of the bill, said it would “save many innocent lives by acting as a deterrent to those who perform abortions.”
The State of Abortion in America
Who can get abortions in America? The typical patient is most likely already a mother, poor, unmarried, in her late 20s, has some college education and is very early in pregnancy. Today’s teens are having fewer abortions. Nearly half the abortions are performed within the first six week of pregnancy. The majority of abortions are performed in the first trimester.
These new laws are in direct contradiction to Roe v. Wade (the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional rights to abortion). They are nevertheless consistent with other states’ practices because there is a possibility that a conservative court majority will overturn or significantly reduce Roe by summer.
Roe prohibits states preventing abortions before a fetus can be viable outside of the womb. This is currently approximately 23 weeks. The court is currently considering a Mississippi statute that bans abortion after 15 week of pregnancy. A majority of justices in December indicated they would uphold the law.
The Texas law was a positive example for states and has been repeatedly rejected by the Supreme Court. The court stated that the law could not be challenged in federal courts because it was not enforced by state officials, as per the Roe constitutional protections. In March, the Texas Supreme Court refused to block the law. It stated that the law was subject to civilian enforcement.
In March, Idaho became a state that passed a similar ban. After Planned Parenthood sued to block it, the Idaho Supreme Court stopped the law. They argued that the law violated privacy.
On Thursday, a coalition representing Oklahoma abortion providers filed lawsuits against the Texas bill.
Ms. Wales, the Planned Parenthood president, said the Idaho Supreme Court’s decision had given the coalition some hope it could block the Oklahoma bill.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Stitt declined to comment on Thursday, writing in an email that his office “does not comment on pending legislation.” But the governor has said before that he will sign any anti-abortion legislation that crosses his desk.
Source: NY Times
