Despite confusion over multiple state bans, abortion becomes 'nonissue' for OK Legislature
A year after banning nearly all abortion procedures in the state, Oklahoma lawmakers focused very little on the issue this legislative session.
Bills that would clarify exceptions and others seeking to toughen punishments have not advanced this session.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, who pledged to sign every anti-abortion bill that hit his desk, said during a campaign debate last year there should be exceptions for rape and incest. But lawmakers did not send the governor any bill carving out additional exceptions.
“It was a nonissue to the Legislature this year, which proves that it was always a political issue,” said Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which supports abortion rights.
At least 15 bills directly related to abortion were submitted this year but none cleared legislative deadlines.
More: ‘My baby's not gonna make it and neither am I’; Women flee Okla. for life-saving abortions
Supreme Court, attorney general say medical emergencies should be protected
Last month, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma overturned one of the state's abortion bans and said the state constitution includes "an inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to save her life.” The majority opinion also said: “Requiring one to wait until there is a medical emergency would further endanger the life of the pregnant woman and does not serve a compelling state interest.”
Abortion rights advocates said the state’s other abortion bans still cause confusion about medical exceptions, but Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond also said he believes doctors should be able to use abortions to protect a pregnant person’s health.
“The recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision further clarified this issue by ruling that a ‘medical emergency’ exception alone is unconstitutionally narrow," Drummond’s office recently told The Oklahoman. "As a result, the Attorney General believes the law permits an abortion when it is necessary to protect or preserve the life of the mother, and that doctors must be given substantial leeway in making this determination.”
Multiple abortion bans have confused doctors and patients
A study from multiple abortion rights groups found that hospitals across the state struggle to articulate to patients what emergency pregnancy care looks like given the state’s multiple abortion bans.
“Not a single hospital in Oklahoma appeared to be able to articulate clear, consistent policies for emergency obstetric care that supported their clinicians’ ability to make decisions based solely on their clinical judgment and pregnant patients’ stated preferences and needs,” reported the study, which is titled “No One Could Say: Accessing Emergency Obstetrics Information as a Prospective Prenatal Patient in Post-Roe Oklahoma.”
Commissioned by Physicians for Human Rights, the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, the study used “simulated callers” to contact every hospital in the state.
“This report is a stunning indictment of post-Roe medical care for pregnant people. Oklahoma’s extreme and inconsistent abortion bans put peoples’ health and lives at risk every day,” said Risa Kaufman, director of U.S. human rights at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
More: What different court rulings mean for the abortion pill mifepristone and for Oklahomans
Ben Felder's reporting is funded by a generous grant from the Kirkpatrick Foundation. To support work like this, please consider subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Legislature takes no action on abortion a year after bans
