Oklahoma lawmakers pass near-total abortion ban, allow private citizens to enforce law

If signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, the Bill banning abortion at any stage of pregnancy would be the toughest in effect in the country.

Protesters take to the streets after a leaked draft of the Supreme Court's potential decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Picture: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/AFP

Oklahoma’s legislature on Thursday passed a ban on abortion at any stage of pregnancy, and delegated enforcement of the law to private citizens.

If signed by the governor, the legislation would be the toughest in effect in the country.

The Bill passed the state’s Republican-led House of Representatives by a vote of 73 to 16. It now heads to Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, who has said he would sign any anti-abortion Bill that crosses his desk. The law is set to take effect immediately if he signs it.

The bill allows private citizens to bring civil lawsuits for monetary damages against anyone who performs or aids an abortion. The law sets minimum damages at $10,000, plus legal costs. It provides an exception for a medical emergency or if the pregnancy is the result of rape, sexual assault or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

Republican-led states around the country have been laying the groundwork to ban or heavily restrict abortion if the US Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion. A draft Supreme Court opinion leaked earlier this month suggested the court is preparing to take that step.

Oklahoma is one of three states, along with Texas and Idaho, that have passed laws allowing private citizens to enforce abortion restrictions, a tactic that makes it more difficult for abortion-rights advocates to challenge the laws in court. Both Texas and Idaho’s laws apply after fetal cardiac activity is detectable, around six weeks of pregnancy. The Texas law is currently in effect and has caused a steep drop in abortions in that state, while Idaho’s law is currently on hold because of a court order.

Oklahoma has passed a flurry of abortion restrictions in recent weeks. In late April it passed a law banning abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy, also be to enforced by private citizens. Earlier that month, it passed a criminal law banning abortion throughout pregnancy, but that bill isn’t expected to take effect until August.

Oklahoma is also one of 13 sates with so-called trigger laws on the books that would ban most abortions in the state should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.

In recent months, Oklahoma had been a destination for Texans travelling across state lines to obtain an abortion. Some Oklahoma abortion clinics recently stopped scheduling appointments in light of the legislature’s manoeuvres, to avoid the possibility of having to cancel procedures last-minute.

Trust Women, an abortion provider with one clinic in Oklahoma City and another in Wichita, Kansas, said in a statement Thursday that its Oklahoma clinic would remain open to provide information and guidance on where people can get an abortion elsewhere.

Separately on Thursday, a Kentucky judge largely extended a temporary block on enforcement of a new state law that local clinics had said would force them to stop performing abortions.

Last month, Kentucky lawmakers overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of the new abortion regulations, which imposed additional reporting requirements on abortion providers, mandating that physicians who provide medication abortions register with the state and requiring facilities to report adverse events resulting from medication abortions.

US District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings issued a preliminary injunction that extended a suspension of provisions that providers said were impossible to comply with, in part because the state hadn’t created the necessary forms or programs.

Dow Jones