Oklahoma Abortion Bans Struck Down, but Only for Being Even Worse Than the One From 1910
The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down two of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans in an apparent victory for reproductive freedom, but before pregnant people in need of healthcare could so much as sigh in relief, the state attorney general issued a statement equivalent to laughing in their faces, declaring that most abortions are still illegal under a long-dormant ban passed in 1910. So what exactly is the status of abortion rights in one of the reddest of red states?
In a 6–3 decision issued Wednesday, the court ruled that SB 1603 and HB 4327 are unconstitutional because of the narrowness of their exceptions for medical emergencies. Confirming an earlier decision, the court found that forcing doctors to wait for someone’s life to be in imminent danger before providing necessary healthcare is not actually a good idea, violating the “inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life.”
The good news is that means that one of the most restrictive bans in the country is no longer on the books. HB 4327, passed almost exactly a year ago, banned almost all abortions from the moment of conception. It was passed on the heels of SB 1503, which applied to abortions from the six-week mark, in the weeks leading to the fall of Roe v. Wade.
The enforcement mechanism for both laws was modeled after Texas’s six-week abortion ban, allowing citizens to sue anyone performing or aiding an abortion. With those laws axed, at least doctors in Oklahoma can no longer be sued by anti-choice bounty hunters.
If you’re experiencing a déjà vu feeling while reading this news, it might because the Oklahoma Supreme Court had already struck down a similar law in March, a “trigger” ban that automatically went into effect after the gutting of Roe. All three bans were found unconstitutional for the same reason—that their medical exceptions required an emergency, unnecessarily putting lives in danger. More specifically, the court found that all three laws violated the section of Oklahoma’s constitution that states that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and that “all persons have the inherent right to life.” A court officially recognizing that women are people? Cheers to that!
Now for the bad news: One red state can never have too many abortion bans, apparently, and Oklahoma also has one that was passed in 1910. The century-old law, passed a decade before women had the right to vote, made causing a woman to miscarry a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Shortly after the state Supreme Court released its ruling this week, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond wasted no time in issuing a statement saying that ban is still in effect. “Except for certain circumstances outlined in that statute, abortion is still unlawful in the state of Oklahoma,” Gentner wrote.
As for those certain circumstances, the 1910 ban also has a medical exception, one that allows abortions to preserve the life of the pregnant person. In its March decision, the court interpreted this language to be broader than other versions, allowing doctors to exercise their judgment to prevent a crisis rather than wait for one.
While most abortions are still banned, medical professionals and advocates for reproductive rights said the recent decisions provided clarity on medical exceptions, recognizing that doctors, not politicians, should be making those crucial decisions.
“Hopefully patients will be receiving the medically necessary care they need without waiting until they are on death’s door,” Rabia Muqaddam, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Associated Press.
Dana Stone, an Oklahoma City obstetrician and gynecologist, described the harrowing situations patients and doctors had faced since the bans took effect, which hopefully will be averted now.
“In our practice we had cases where we would just have to tell women who we would normally offer a (pregnancy) termination to protect her health … ‘We have to let you go home and monitor your condition and if you start showing signs of infection or worsening blood pressure, then come back and we have the ability to legally treat you,’” Stone told the Associated Press. “Otherwise, we’re at risk with these laws of going to jail for 10 years, having hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and losing our medical licenses.”
Any progress is progress, and some lives might even be saved due to this decision, but the reality remains that most Oklahomans still won’t have access to important reproductive care, and the one remaining ban contains zero exceptions for victims of rape or incest. Reacting to the decision, plaintiffs in the case have vowed to keep fighting for abortion access in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
(via Associated Press, featured image: Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress)
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