Abortion in Oklahoma

Abortion in Oklahoma is illegal unless the abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Oklahoma banned abortion in 1910 and it remained banned until the United States' Supreme Court 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. Oklahoma became the first state in the United States to institute a ban on abortion from fertilisation post-Roe v. Wade in May 2022, the month before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the case in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. In March 2023, the Oklahoma Supreme Court found the Oklahoma Constitution's provisions guaranteeing due process and a right to life guaranteed a limited right to an abortion when there is reasonable certainty pregnancy threatens a woman's life.

History

Oklahoma passed a law in 1910 that made "anyone who caused a woman to miscarry her baby guilty of a felony."[1]

The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.[2]

The state passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions after 22 weeks because legislators alleged that a fetus could feel pain.[3]

The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement.[4] The law required that materials be created by the Oklahoma State Department of Health.[5] The informed consent materials were required by statute to be given to women and used graphic and inflammatory language. The law also required the woman to be told how far advanced her pregnancy was. Oklahoma law required that women seeking abortions after 20 weeks be verbally informed that the fetus may feel pain during the abortion procedure, despite a Journal of the American Medical Association conclusion that pain sensors do not develop in the fetus until between weeks 23 and 30. Informed consent materials about fetal pain at 20 weeks stated "the unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain." In contrast, The Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that pain sensors do not develop in the fetus until 23–30 weeks.[6] It should be stated that some research does agree with the principle of the law, including findings of the Journal of Medical Ethics, more recent evidence calls into question the necessity of the cortex for pain and demonstrating functional thalamic connectivity into the subplate is used to argue that the neuroscience cannot definitively rule out fetal pain before 24 weeks.

A 2009 Oklahoma law, overturned by a federal court in 2010, would have required doctors to report information from a 37-question form about every woman receiving an abortion to the state health department for publication in an online registry.[7] A lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the law, said the law would have made public potentially identifying details about women, and was intended to dissuade women from seeking abortions.[8] Todd Lamb, who sponsored the law as a state senator, called it "essential in protecting the sanctity of life" and "pro-life".[7] A fetal heartbeat bill (SB 1274) was signed into law by then-Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin in April 2012 that required an abortion provider to offer a woman the opportunity to hear the conceptus's heartbeat before ending the pregnancy and applied when the conceptus was at least eight weeks old. The bill took effect in November 2012.[9]

In 2013, the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication-induced abortions in addition to abortion clinics.[10] On November 4, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the state of Oklahoma to the overturning, on constitutional grounds, of a bill intended to ban the practice of terminations of early pregnancies via medication.[11]

In 2016, Oklahoma state legislators passed a bill to criminalize abortion for providers, potentially charging them with up to three years in prison.[12][13][14] On May 20, 2016, Governor Mary Fallin vetoed the bill before it could become law, citing its wording as too vague to withstand a legal challenge.[15][13][14] The state legislature was one of four states nationwide that tried, and failed, to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill in 2016.[14]

In 2017, the state was one of six where the legislature introduced a bill that would have banned abortion in almost all cases. It did not pass.[14] They were also one of eight states trying to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill that year.[14] The state legislature tried and failed to ban abortion again in 2018. They also tried and failed to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill that year.[14] In mid-May 2019, state law banned abortion after week 22.[13]

In March 2020, Governor Kevin Stitt signed an executive order to limit elective medical procedures, later confirming that all types of abortion services were included, except for those necessary in a medical emergency or to "prevent serious health risks" to the pregnant woman. On April 6, federal judge Charles Barnes Goodwin blocked the executive order, ruling that the state "acted in an 'unreasonable,' 'arbitrary,' and 'oppressive' way," which "imposed an 'undue' burden on abortion access" in Oklahoma.[16]

Oklahoma's abortion ban took effect on May 25, 2022, when Governor Kevin Stitt signed HB 4327 into law, and abortion providers ceased offering services in Oklahoma as of that date.[17][18] HB 4327 is modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act and is enforced solely through civil lawsuits brought by private citizens, making it exceedingly difficult for abortion providers to challenge the constitutionality of the statute in court.[19][20] The usage of the term fetal heartbeat in this type of bill is contentious, with medical professionals positing that the terminology is inaccurate. This is because at the proposed time, (as early as 6 weeks) the conceptus is not yet considered a fetus, and is actually an embryo. Additionally, as there is no heart present in the embryo, it would more accurately be called a cluster of cells with electrical activity.[21][22] Oklahoma was the first state to successfully ban abortion from the moment of fertilization post-Roe v. Wade.[23] The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. ___ (2022) in June 2022.[24]

In March 2023, a 5-4 majority of the Oklahoma Supreme Court found that the Oklahoma Constitution guarantee of a right to life included a "limited right" to life-saving abortions when there is "reasonable" certainty pregnancy threatens a person's life and that the Oklahoma Legislature's requirement of an "imminent medical emergency" violated that right.[25][26] The Court declined to comment on the constitutionality of bans on elective abortions.[26] On May 31, 2023, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned Senate Bill 1503 and House Bill 4327 as unconstitutional limitations on the right to abortion in the state. SB 1503, authored by Senator Julie Daniels, had banned abortion from the detection of a fetal heartbeat (usually about 6 weeks into a pregnancy). It allowed for an exception for "medical emergencies," but did not define the term. HB 4237, authored by Representative Wendi Stearman, had been described as the "strictest abortion ban in the country" and prevented abortion from conception and had exceptions for saving the life of the mother and rapes that had been reported to police.[27]

On September 12, 2023, a woman filed an administrative complaint with the U.S Department of Health and Human Services against a hospital in Oklahoma, stating that she was denied an abortion by two different Oklahoma hospitals despite having dangerous pregnancy complications.[28]

History of clinics

Number of abortion clinics in Oklahoma by year

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by seven, going from eighteen in 1982 to eleven in 1992.[29] In the period between 1992 and 1996, the state saw no change in the total number of abortion clinics.[30] While only three states saw gains in this period, this state was one of four to see no changes with 11 abortion clinics in the state in 1996. In 2014, there were three abortion clinics in the state.[31] In 2014, 96% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 54% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic.[32] In 2014, 51% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.[33] In 2017, there were six Planned Parenthood clinics, of which one offered abortion services, in a state with a population of 882,108 women aged 15–49.[34]

The first new clinic to provide abortion care opened in Oklahoma City in 2016, Trust Women Oklahoma City.[35][36] As of 2022, there are no abortion providers offering services in Oklahoma as a result of HB 4327.[37]

History of the abortion-rights movement

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.[38] Many Oklahoman's who were supportive of abortion started protesting following restrictions on the procedure that were signed into law in May 2022.[39][40] In June 2022, additional protests across several cities such as Oklahoma City, Norman, and Tulsa had risen substantially after the Supreme Court's ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.[41][42][43][44][45]

Statistics

In the period between 1972 and 1974, there was one illegal abortion death in Oklahoma.[46] In the same period, the state had an illegal abortion mortality rate per million women aged 15–44 of between 0.1 and 0.9.[46] In 1990, 328,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy.[29] In 2010, the state had no publicly funded abortions.[47] In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were 460 abortions, 110 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 0 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 140 abortions for women of all other races.[48] In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 7.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.[49]

Number of reported abortions, abortion rate and percentage change in rate by geographic region and state in 1992, 1995 and 1996[30]
Census division and stateNumberRate % change 1992–1996
199219951996199219951996
US Total1,528,9301,363,6901,365,73025.922.922.9–12
West South Central127,070119,200120,61019.61818.1–8
Arkansas7,1306,0106,20013.511.111.4–15
Louisiana13,60014,82014,74013.414.714.710
Oklahoma8,9409,1308,40012.512.911.8–5
Texas97,40089,24091,27023.120.520.7–10
Number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions, by reporting area of residence and occurrence and by percentage of abortions obtained by out-of-state residents, US CDC estimates
Location Residence Occurrence % obtained by

out-of-state residents

 Year Ref
No. Rate^ Ratio^^ No. Rate^ Ratio^^
Oklahoma4,8086.3904,9166.4928.72014[50]
Oklahoma 4,813 6.3 91 4,709 6.1 89 8 2015 [51]
Oklahoma 4,409 5.7 84 4,294 5.6 82 8.0 2016 [52]
^number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44; ^^number of abortions per 1,000 live births

References

  1. ↑ Green, Lauren (June 14, 2022). "Oklahoma full abortion ban harkens back over 100 years". The Norman Transcript. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  2. ↑ Buell, Samuel (1991-01-01). "Criminal Abortion Revisited". New York University Law Review. 66 (6): 1774–1831. PMID 11652642.
  3. ↑ Times, The New York. "Abortion Restrictions in States". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ "State Policy On Informed Consent for Abortion" (PDF). Guttmacher Policy Review. Fall 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Misinformed Consent: The Medical Accuracy of State-Developed Abortion Counseling Materials". Guttmacher Institute. 2006-10-25. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  6. ↑ "State Abortion Counseling Policies and the Fundamental Principles of Informed Consent". Guttmacher Institute. 2007-11-12. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  7. 1 2 Donaldson James, Susan (February 19, 2010). "Okla. Strikes Down Law That Would Have 'Undressed' Women". ABC News. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Oklahoma abortion law to force women to list personal details online". Daily Telegraph. October 19, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Oklahoma governor signs fetal heartbeat bill". NewsOK.com. April 28, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ "TRAP Laws Gain Political Traction While Abortion Clinics—and the Women They Serve—Pay the Price". Guttmacher Institute. 2013-06-27. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  11. ↑ Court lets stand an Oklahoma ruling that a state abortion law is unconstitutional', The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, 12 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "Oklahoma lawmakers approve bill to revoke licenses of abortion doctors". Reuters. 2016-04-29. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  13. 1 2 3 Tavernise, Sabrina (2019-05-15). "'The Time Is Now': States Are Rushing to Restrict Abortion, or to Protect It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lai, K. K. Rebecca (2019-05-15). "Abortion Bans: 8 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Gov. Fallin vetoes bill that would make performing an abortion a felony". KFOR.com. 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  16. ↑ Kelly, Caroline (April 6, 2020). "Oklahoma judge blocks state order restricting abortion during coronavirus outbreak". CNN. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  17. ↑ Smith, Karen; Stracqualursi, Veronica (May 25, 2022). "Oklahoma GOP governor signs one of nation's strictest abortion bills into law". CNN. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  18. ↑ DiMartino, Jessie (May 25, 2022). "Oklahoma governor signs the nation's strictest abortion ban". abcnews.go.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  19. ↑ Vander Ploeg, Luke (May 25, 2022). "Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill That Bans Most Abortions". New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson, No. 21-463" (PDF). supremecourt.gov. December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  21. ↑ Rogers, Adam. "'Heartbeat' Bills Get the Science of Fetal Heartbeats All Wrong". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  22. ↑ "ACOG Guide to Language and Abortion". www.acog.org. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  23. ↑ Borter, Gabriella (2022-05-20). "Oklahoma lawmakers pass near-total abortion ban". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  24. ↑ Howe, Amy (June 24, 2022). "Supreme Court overturns constitutional right to abortion". SCOTUSblog. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  25. ↑ Chen, Shawna (March 21, 2023). "Oklahoma Supreme Court: State constitution grants "limited right" to abortion". Axios. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  26. 1 2 Sweeney, Catherine (March 21, 2023). "Oklahoma Supreme Court clarifies medical exemptions in the state's abortion ban". KOSU. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  27. ↑ Hober, Barbara (June 1, 2023). "Oklahoma Supreme Court rules two abortion ban laws unconstitutional". Tulsa World. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  28. ↑ El-Bawab, Nadine (September 12, 2023). "Women, doctors announce legal action against abortion bans in 3 states". ABC News. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  29. 1 2 Arndorfer, Elizabeth; Michael, Jodi; Moskowitz, Laura; Grant, Juli A.; Siebel, Liza (December 1998). A State-By-State Review of Abortion and Reproductive Rights. Diane Publishing. ISBN 9780788174810.
  30. 1 2 "Abortion Incidence and Services in the United States, 1995-1996". Guttmacher Institute. 2005-06-15. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  31. ↑ Gould, Rebecca Harrington, Skye. "The number of abortion clinics in the US has plunged in the last decade — here's how many are in each state". Business Insider. Retrieved May 23, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ Panetta, Grace; lee, Samantha (2018-08-04). "This is what could happen if Roe v. Wade fell". Business Insider (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  33. ↑ "Views about abortion by state - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics". Pew Research Center. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Here's Where Women Have Less Access to Planned Parenthood". Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  35. ↑ "Oklahoma's first new abortion clinic in 40 years opens doors". Associated Press. 16 September 2016.
  36. ↑ "Clinics Overview".
  37. ↑ Porter, Gabriella (May 25, 2022). "Oklahoma governor signs into law strictest abortion ban in the U.S." Reuters. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  38. ↑ Bacon, John. "Abortion rights supporters' voices thunder at #StopTheBans rallies across the nation". USA Today. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  39. ↑ Money, Jack. "Abortion rights supporters rally Saturday at Oklahoma Capitol". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  40. ↑ Arata, Katie (2022-05-14). "Hundreds rally at Oklahoma State Capitol in support of abortion rights". KOKH. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  41. ↑ "Protests scheduled in Oklahoma City, Norman after Roe v. Wade abortion law overturned". KFOR.com Oklahoma City. 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  42. ↑ "People in Oklahoma react to decision to overturn Roe v. Wade". KOCO. 2022-06-26. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  43. ↑ "Norman protesters want answers on how abortion laws will be enforced". KFOR.com Oklahoma City. 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  44. ↑ World, Jacob Factor Tulsa. "Tulsans protest overturning of Roe v. Wade, plan to work to restore reproductive rights". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  45. ↑ "Multiple pro-abortion protests taking place across Oklahoma City Sunday". KFOR.com Oklahoma City. 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  46. 1 2 Cates, Willard; Rochat, Roger (March 1976). "Illegal Abortions in the United States: 1972–1974". Family Planning Perspectives. 8 (2): 86–92. doi:10.2307/2133995. JSTOR 2133995. PMID 1269687.
  47. ↑ "Guttmacher Data Center". data.guttmacher.org. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  48. ↑ "No. of abortions among women aged 15–19, by state of residence, 2013 by racial group". Guttmacher Data Center. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  49. ↑ "States pushing abortion bans have highest infant mortality rates". NBC News. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  50. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2017). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2014". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 66 (24): 1–48. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6624a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMC 6289084. PMID 29166366.
  51. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2018). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2015". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 67 (13): 1–45. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6713a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMC 6289084. PMID 30462632.
  52. ↑ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2019). "Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2016". MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 68 (11): 1–41. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6811a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMID 31774741.
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