OKLAHOMA CITY — Several recently passed Oklahoma abortion bills drew a legal challenge on Thursday from reproductive rights advocates who have sought to block the new laws, which take effect Nov. 1.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit in Oklahoma County District Court.
“The Oklahoma Supreme Court has found time and again that the Legislature’s extreme attempts to restrict abortion are unconstitutional,” said Nancy Northup, Center for Reproductive Rights president and CEO. “If allowed to take effect, these laws would end abortion access in Oklahoma, forcing patients to travel great distances and cross state lines to get essential health care.”
The plaintiffs in the case are Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice; Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic; Dr. Alan Braid; Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains; and Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.
People are also reading…
The defendants are Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor; Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater; Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler; Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision Executive Director Lyle Kelsey; Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners President Katie Templeton; state Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye; and Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy President Justin Wilson.
“The challenged laws are unconstitutional and contrary to clear Oklahoma Supreme Court precedent,” the suit says. “In some instances, the challenged laws purport to reenact requirements largely identical to ones already struck down as unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.”
The law created by House Bill 1102 effectively bans abortion by classifying it as unprofessional conduct by a doctor that carries a minimum penalty of license suspension for one year, according to the suit.
Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, is author of the legislation.
House Bill 2441, authored by Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy, a point before most women know they are pregnant and roughly four months before viability, according to the suit.
House Bill 1904, drafted by Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, arbitrarily disqualifies abortion providers who are not board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, according to the suit.
“Six out of 10 of plaintiffs’ doctors will be barred from providing care under the OB/GYN requirement without any medical justification,” according to the suit.
Senate Bill 778 imposes a myriad of medically unnecessary and burdensome requirements on medication abortion, the suit says.
The bill requires an ultrasound 72 hours prior to an abortion, which is a more stringent version of a requirement the Oklahoma Supreme Court has already declared unconstitutional, the filing notes.
Senate Bill 779 imposes a labyrinthine certification system for manufacturers, distributors and providers of mediation abortion, according to the filing.
“As just two examples — the bill includes a requirement that providers of medication abortion have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital or contract with a physician who does, even though similar requirements have been deemed unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court only five years ago and by the United States Supreme Court as recently as last year, and it also limits the time period during which medication abortion can be prescribed,” the lawsuit says.
The purpose of the laws is to deprive people of their “constitutionally protected right to choose whether to terminate their pregnancy before viability,” the suit says.
It seeks a ruling that the bills are unconstitutional and void.
The suit also demands a temporary and permanent injunction preventing the laws from taking effect in addition to reasonable attorney fees and costs for the plaintiffs.
History of Oklahoma’s stricken abortion measures
2012
The Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a law requiring any woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound within an hour before the procedure and have it described to her. The court also overturned another law that put restrictions on the RU-486 abortion-inducing drug and a ban on all medication abortions.
The court also struck down an issue before it could be added to the state ballot that would have let voters decide on an initiative defining a fertilized egg as a “person,” thereby banning abortion and most forms of contraception.
2014
An Oklahoma County judge threw out a law that would have required girls younger than 17 to have a prescription to obtain the “morning after” birth control pill.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2019 upheld the unconstitutionality of a law that would have required doctors who treat women seeking a medication abortion to use a decade-old method that is less safe, less effective and more expensive than the current method, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. It sought to require doctors to follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocols and bar off-label uses.
2015
An Oklahoma County judge issued an injunction on a law that would have banned dilation and evacuation, a common second-trimester abortion procedure.
2016
Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a bill that would have made it a felony for physicians to perform abortions and revoke their medical licenses unless the abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a law targeted against child rapists that would have forced abortion providers to take a sample of the fetal tissue when the abortion patient is younger than 14 and send it to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The state high court on Dec. 14 struck down a law that would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
Source: Tulsa World archives
Featured video: Discussion on abortion bill in Oklahoma House on March 2, 2021
House Bill 1904, by Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, ostensibly would protect women undergoing the procedure, but Roe readily admitted that her bill’s primary objective is to make abortions harder to get.
