Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks after signing into law a bill making it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Tuesday. (AP photo/Sue Ogrocki)
OKLAHOMA CITY – Lawmakers are directly targeting health care providers in their attempts to outlaw abortion in Oklahoma in a move decried by physicians and abortion rights activists.
Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed into law the first of a slew of bills coming out of the Legislature this year that would imprison and fine health care providers who perform abortions. More bills are coming – which the governor has already promised to sign – that would provide a financial incentive for anyone in the state to drag a health care provider into court on suspicion that they provided or assisted in an abortion.
Reaction from medical professionals and activists was swift:
“Once again, Oklahoma politicians are putting themselves in control of personal health decisions that belong to Oklahomans and their families,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “This ban, like all abortion bans, will harm real people — people who are making a decision that they know will be best for themselves, their lives, their families, and their futures.”
“The Oklahoma State Medical Association remains committed to preserving a physician’s right to practice and serve the needs of their patients without politicians interfering in the doctor/patient relationship,” Oklahoma State Medical President Mary Clarke said in a statement.
Lawmakers say they are generating multiple bills with duplicative and even contradictory provisions in the hope that some measures will stand after the U.S. Supreme Court issues a decision on abortion this summer.
“We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” Stitt said as he signed Senate Bill 612 into law on Tuesday. “We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.”
“What I love about this one (bill) is that there’s not a punishment in it for the mother of any kind,” said Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor. “It’s for the practitioner who does it.”
SB 612, by state Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, and state Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, stipulates that the new law does not authorize “the charging or conviction of a woman with a criminal offense in the death of her own unborn child.”
Instead, the measure makes the act of performing or attempting to perform an abortion at any stage of gestation a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
The bill provides that a licensed physician may defend themselves in court by claiming that a medical treatment to the woman accidentally resulted in injury to or the death of the fetus.
The signing ceremony for SB 612 came a day after a legislative committee advanced House Bill 4327, by Rep. Wendi Stearman, R-Collinsville, and Dahm, one step closer to the governor’s desk. HB 4327 is one of two bills modeled after a Texas law that allows any resident to sue someone they believe has performed an abortion or assisted a woman in obtaining an abortion. HB 4327 would create a civil action against abortion providers and those who assist, with statutory damages set at no less than $10,000.
Though Dahm told members of the media on Monday that a physician unjustly accused under the provisions of the law could have their case dismissed, the language of the bill stipulates that physicians would still be saddled with court costs and fees.
“Notwithstanding any other law, a court shall not award court costs or attorney fees to a defendant in an action brought under this section,” reads the language of HB 4327. The measure does not proscribe what evidence the physician would need to present in order to win summary judgement.
In committee, state Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, noted that Oklahoma already is suffering a shortage of health care providers.
“Do you feel like an unintended consequence of this measure might be that we might have a much more difficult time bringing in recruiting OB-GYN physicians for our state to practice medicine?” Hicks asked.
“Hopefully this will allow those physicians to focus on pregnancy resources rather than focusing on abortions,” Dahm replied.
Also working its way to the governor’s desk is SB 1503 by state Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and state Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, dubbed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act. SB 1503 would also create a civil action against abortion providers and those who assist, though that measure would prohibit abortions after a “fetal heartbeat is detected.”
The measures also target those who pay for or reimburse costs of an abortion, prohibiting individuals from contributing to funds set up to assist women seeking an abortion. The bills are written to exempt its provisions from challenges based on the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act or the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act.
House Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman, said SB 612 is detrimental to the health of Oklahoma residents who do not have the means to travel to other states to obtain an abortion.
“Like the others, this attempt will be challenged in court at the expense of Oklahoma taxpayers, and like the others, it will be ruled unconstitutional,” Virgin said.
Legislation passed last year that would have physicians who perform abortions chastised for “unprofessional conduct” and which would disqualify more than half of the abortion providers in the state by requiring certain licensure are currently on hold, as they are being challenged in the courts by advocates for abortion access.
Abortion rights advocates already have promised to challenge this year’s measures in the courts as well.
“Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion from all sides and merely seeing which of these dangerous, shameful bills they can get their governor to sign,” said Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an OB/GYN in Texas and Oklahoma and board member at Physicians for Reproductive Health, in a statement. “As an OB/GYN and abortion provider who takes care of patients from Texas traveling to Oklahoma, I am alarmed at what this also means for all patients across our region and the impact will reverberate across the country. Abortion is life-saving health care that people should be able to access in their communities.”
“The only person who should have the power to decide whether you need an abortion is you — no matter where you live, or how much money you make,” said Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director, ACLU of Oklahoma. “Today’s signing is a reminder of the immediate threat to our community’s health and reproductive freedom, serving as a placeholder to a rapidly approaching future without access to safe and legal abortion.”
