Oklahoma's abortion ban driving thousands of state women to Kansas, Colorado

More than 2,100 Oklahoma women received abortion services in Kansas and Colorado last year after Oklahoma banned nearly all abortions, according to new state reports that provide a look at the impact of patchwork abortion laws.

A new report from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shows that 2,026 Oklahoma residents received an abortion in that state in 2022, up from 137 in 2021. In Colorado, 198 Oklahomans received abortions last year, up from 12 in 2021, according to that state’s Department of Public Health and Environment.

The two states are among only three in Oklahoma’s region where women can get an abortion; New Mexico is the other, but 2022 statistics are not available.

The numbers reflect only about seven months in which Oklahoma women seeking to terminate a pregnancy were not allowed to do so in their home state. If the patterns of 2022 repeat this year, Kansas and Colorado would be likely to report higher numbers of Oklahoma women receiving abortion services.

Reported abortions in Oklahoma drop to zero after Gov. Stitt signs bill modeled after Texas

No abortions were reported in Oklahoma after May 2022, when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law that allowed people to file civil claims against anyone who helped a woman obtain an abortion. The law was based on a similar one approved months earlier in Texas.

The law in Texas drove many women from that state to Oklahoma before Oklahoma legislators copied the legislation. Up until Stitt signed that law, there had been 2,160 abortions in Oklahoma, with more than half provided for residents of Texas, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

The rush of Texan women to Oklahoma because of the civil law was an early glimpse of what would happen nationally after June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its abortion rights precedents and left it up to states to write their own abortion laws.

As most abortions were banned in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, women went to Kansas and Colorado. Kansas reported 12,318 abortions in 2022, up from 7,849 in 2021. Nearly 3,000 Texas women received abortions in Kansas last year, up from 233 the year before, according to Kansas statistics. Colorado reported a total of 14,154 abortions in 2022, up from 11,580 in 2021.

More: Oklahoma lawmakers pass nation's most restrictive abortion law

Reports from the Oklahoma Health Department show there were 4,145 abortions for Oklahoma residents in 2021 and 4,177 in 2020. Last year, there were 898 for Oklahoma residents before the Texas-style law went into effect.

The Oklahoma Legislature and the governor also approved criminal laws that were triggered when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

“In the year after Oklahoma passed the first total abortion ban since Roe, we have worked to help patients overcome unbelievable barriers to care,” Anamarie Rebori Simmons, director of communications and marketing for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said last week.

“During that time, we’ve expanded our patient navigation services with the generous help of supporters and the critical network of local abortions funds. We continue to provide Oklahomans assistance with travel, lodging and the cost of care, knowing that those hurdles are overwhelming for many of the people we serve. Patients deserve local care in their communities, but while that’s not available, we’re committed to helping them get to states like Kansas, where they have rights to make their own health care decisions.”

Tony Lauinger, chairman of Oklahomans for Life, said he wasn’t surprised at the statistics from Kansas and Colorado regarding abortion services provided for Oklahoma residents.

“The abortion industry is doing everything they can to facilitate out-of-state abortions … through their offers to help with travel and hotel rooms,” Lauinger said. “They go to the hilt to try to facilitate the killing of unborn children. Our hope is that there will be many unborn children who will be born in Oklahoma this year instead of being aborted. It’s the case where not all unborn children’s lives will be saved, but we hope a lot of them will.”

Rights and restrictions

Kansas voters last year effectively upheld their state constitution’s guarantee of bodily autonomy, including abortion.

This year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the state’s new criminal and civil laws after finding that the state constitution includes “an inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to save her life."

The laws required a “medical emergency” for an abortion to save a woman’s life, something the court said was not required under the state constitution.

More: Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down two state abortion bans

The court left in place a law from 1910 that bans most abortions unless “necessary to preserve” a mother’s life. The court took no position on the broader question of whether there is a right to elective abortion.

Lauinger said he and others opposed to abortion are concerned that an initiative petition drive may be launched in Oklahoma to guarantee a broader state constitutional right to abortion. Such a drive might be supported by the fact that an overwhelming majority of Oklahomans don’t favor the lack of exceptions now in state law, he said.

Lauinger, who has been working to restrict abortion in Oklahoma for decades, is now supporting legislation that would make exceptions for life of the mother; for a medical emergency that threatens the physical health of the mother; for rape reported to law enforcement; and for incest with a minor reported to law enforcement.

A poll this year showed about 70% of Oklahomans support those exceptions, but only those exceptions, Lauinger said.

According to the state Health Department report on abortions in 2021 — the last full year in which abortions were available in Oklahoma — 59 were reported as necessary to avert the death of the mother.

Also, 324 women who received an abortion that year said their physical health was at risk, while 394 said there may be a problem affecting the health of the fetus. Twenty-one women cited forcible rape and 11 cited incest as the reason for seeking an abortion. Women could give more than one answer.

More: US Reps. Cole, Bice oppose paying expenses for US military women traveling for abortions

Planned Parenthood Great Plains has seen an increase in appointments at its Oklahoma health centers for contraception, ranging from 5% to 15%, Simmons said.

In November, the organization opened a health center in Lawton that sees patients for services including birth control, testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections, emergency contraception, gender-affirming care and general wellness care.

“Since we opened Lawton in late 2022, we’ve been proud to see continued increase in patient volume and we’re excited that residents have turned to us as a local health care provider,” Simmons said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: About 2,100 Oklahoma women got abortions in Kansas, Colorado in 2022