'Oklahoma is passing every type of abortion ban to give themselves the largest chance possible for one of them to go into effect. They may be essentially hedging their bets.'
each month for an abortion, per data collected by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. Almost half—45 percent—went to Oklahoma.
And on Monday, a Senate committee voted in favor of another Texas-inspired abortion ban. Instead of ending abortion access after six weeks, it would allow for civil litigation against people who “aid or abet” the provision of any abortion at any gestational age, with exceptions for rape and incest. If passed by the full Senate, it would also go to the governor’s desk—and also take effect right away. In that event, clinics are expected to stop providing any abortions in the state.
“We are in the position now of having to go day by day,” said Emily Wales, interim president and CEO for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which serves Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. It’s not yet clear which abortion bans would withstand courts’ scrutiny. Texas’s six-week ban—the first active abortion law to rely on civil litigation instead of criminal penalties—has survived legal challenges in federal court as well as the
But the legislature is also advancing a measure that would ask voters to amend Oklahoma’s constitution, so that it explicitly does not protect abortion rights. That measure was approved by the Senate last month. If passed by the House, the amendment would be put before voters this November. Already, abortion access in Oklahoma is tenuous. Clinics in neighboring states too are strained for resources, as thousands of Texans leave their home state for care. Trust Women’s Oklahoma clinic now sees mostly patients from Texas. Its Kansas clinic too is treating a majority of people from out-of-state: Texans and also Oklahomans who can no longer get an appointment in their home state.