Oklahoma lawmakers turn focus to medication abortions

After passing one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans, which essentially ended the procedure at clinics, some lawmakers are turning their focus to medication-induced abortions, often the only option for women seeking to end a pregnancy in Oklahoma.

Last month, eight state lawmakers asked Attorney General John O'Connor for an official opinion on whether it is a crime in Oklahoma for women to induce their own abortion through medication.

“Right now it is unclear if self-induced abortions are against the law as there are many conflicting reports on the matter,” said Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, in a statement issued last week announcing the request for an opinion.

ReportIn Roe v. Wade fallout, three times more Oklahoma women are requesting abortion pills online

Hamilton and the other Republican lawmakers said they believe current Oklahoma law makes it illegal for a person to terminate their own pregnancy with medication.

O’Connor’s office said it was reviewing the lawmakers’ letter and referred The Oklahoman to a previous statement.

“None of our laws — civil or criminal — punish the mother in connection with an abortion,” O’Connor said in his statement.

Oklahoma's abortion bans outlaw both abortion procedures that would happen in a clinic and medication abortions, but the laws focus on punishing people who provide or help provide abortions rather than the person receiving the abortion.

Medication abortion becoming the only option for some women

Following a state ban on abortion, Oklahoma had one of the biggest increases in requests to an international telemedicine organization that sends abortion pills via mail to people in the United States, according to a recent study.

Medication abortion refers to a series of pills taken to end a pregnancy. One drug, mifepristone, stops the pregnancy from growing, and the second drug, misoprostol, helps the body expel the pregnancy.

The drugs can be used to end an early pregnancy, up to about 10 weeks gestation.

More:What are abortion pills? Are they legal in Oklahoma? Here's what you need to know.

In their letter to the attorney general, lawmakers said the use of abortion pills had become a way around Oklahoma's ban.

"With Roe v. Wade gone, the current presidential administration is now encouraging women in states that prohibit abortion clinics to self-induce their own abortions," the letter states.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order this year pledging to ensure access to medication abortion, calling it the only option for some women in states with an abortion ban.

Abortion rights became an issue during the gubernatorial campaign

Republican leaders have not spoken publicly about their priorities for the next session, and neither Hamilton nor several of the other lawmakers who joined his letter responded to The Oklahoman’s request for comment.

But House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, who supports abortion rights, said she expects there to be a push to target medication abortion next year.

"I’m worried that this will be the next direction they will go," said Munson, D-Oklahoma City. "I think for some who vote in favor of these bills, it has less to do about health care ... and it is more about control, and they want to control women and what they do with their body."

Republican lawmakers passed strict abortion bans this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing the procedure only to save the life of the mother.

However, the strict ban appeared to receive pushback, even among some Republicans who believed the law went too far.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, who signed the abortion ban and said he would always approve any anti-abortion bill sent to him, even expressed a willingness to expand abortion access.

More:Legislative study on improving Oklahoma women's conditions omits abortion

During a debate last month, Stitt said he would be open to signing a bill that provided exceptions for rape and incest.

“If the (Oklahoma) Legislature put that on my desk, I would sign that,” Stitt said.

But there has been no indication the Republican-controlled Legislature plans to propose such exceptions, and the recent letter from some lawmakers indicates bills could be filed that seek to limit access to abortion medication.

"We must protect the lives of the unborn at all costs," Hamilton said in a statement last week.

Contributing: Staff reporter Dana Branham

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma lawmakers turn focus to medication abortion