New Oklahoma abortion laws effective Nov. 1 challenged by advocates - KTUL

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Oklahoma is following the path of other states and passing restrictive legislation but also paving the road to limit the way people seeking abortions can get one.

Five new abortion laws will go into effect on Nov. 1 in Oklahoma, but a group of abortion advocates has motioned to block the laws while a lawsuit is discussed in court.

“If all of these laws go into effect, including a total ban, unfortunately, it will be essentially inaccessible in Oklahoma entirely,” said Rabia Muqaddam, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights and leading the lawsuit in Oklahoma.

The “total ban” Muqaddam refers to is two of the bills passed into law limiting when an abortion can happen and what happens to the medical professionals that perform the procedure.

House Bill 2441 bans abortions if an unborn fetus has a detectable heartbeat. According to the bill text, if a doctor were to perform an abortion past this point they could be charged with homicide.

This is commonly referred to as a “heartbeat bill” or six-week abortion bill. It is similar to the law that recently went into effect in Texas.

Muqaddam and the clients she represents said many women don’t know they are pregnant by this point and bans the option once they do know.

The second bill, House Bill 1102, would hold the physician responsible for an abortion in the state of Oklahoma and they would be subject to losing their license for a year.

State Rep. Jim Olsen authored the bill and said limiting abortions was a goal during his time in the legislature. He said by labeling abortion as “unprofessional conduct”, they have more legal ground to make the law go forward.

“We're certainly open to any approach that might work and save those lives,” Olsen said. “This has never been tried before in the entire country. And the reason that we're hopeful is that in the past courts when ruling on questions of physician licensure, Courts have consistently ruled that this is under the purview of the states and not the federal government.”

According to Olsen, the idea to limit abortions through physician licensure was from a minister. The effort was started by Sen. Nathan Dahm but after a few years of effort, Olsen took over and got the bill through.

There are no exceptions for rape or incest according to the bill. The only way an abortion would be allowed is if it was performed to save the mother’s life.

The other bills included in the lawsuit are House Bill 1904, stating only board-certified obstetricians and gynecologists can perform abortions. Senate Bill 778 and 779 establish new rules on medication abortion and ultrasound requirements.

Muqaddam said those bills are similar to others that the Oklahoma and US Supreme Courts have struck down.

The last bill included in the lawsuit is Senate Bill 918 which restores Oklahoma’s prohibition on abortion if Roe v. Wade is struck down in federal court. Muqaddam refers to this as a “trigger bill” that many states hold in case the abortion precedent is overturned.

She said new abortion laws like those in Oklahoma and Texas are leading other states to start passing restrictive legislation.

“It would have a massive chain reaction resulting in tremendous, tremendous harm,” she said. “If they are successful in evading being struck down, as the Texas law has been, states will replicate the same laws throughout different states that are hostile to abortion.”

Olsen said he hopes this happens and abortions will become harder to gain access to.

“If this was left to the states, as would be constitutional, you would find eventually that a majority of states would make abortion illegal,” he said.

The litigation could take months or even years according to Muqaddam. She said past lawsuits in Oklahoma have taken a fair amount of time.

Olsen said they would appeal the decision to a higher court and if struck down federally, they would have to evaluate the legislation and start over.

source: https://ktul.com/news/local/new-oklahoma-abortion-laws-effective-nov-1-challenged-by-advocates

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