Oklahoma anti-abortion bill spurs contraception, privacy concerns
- Oklahoma has some of the nation's strictest abortion limitations
- A new bill would create reporting requirement, ban emergency contraception
- Another GOP-backed bill would make it a felony to deliver abortion drugs
FILE – Dani Thayer, left, and Marina Lanae, right, both of Tulsa, Okla., hold pro-choice signs outside the state Capitol, Wednesday, April 13, 2022, in Oklahoma City. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Friday, Jan 19, 2024, an Oklahoma hospital did not violate federal law when doctors told a woman with a nonviable pregnancy to wait in the parking lot until her condition worsened enough to qualify for an abortion under the state’s strict ban. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki File)
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(NewsNation) — A GOP-backed anti-abortion bill in Oklahoma would ban emergency contraception and could create a database of people who undergo an abortion.
The bill, which passed the House Public Health Committee last week, is the amalgamation of two bills that the Oklahoma Supreme Court previously deemed unconstitutional, according to reports from The Oklahoman and Tulsa World.
Those measures separately attempted to ban abortion at conception and after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The latter usually happens around six weeks, before most people know they’re pregnant.
The proposed legislation would also allow for civil action against anyone who helps another person obtain an abortion. Physicians would also be required to report the abortions they perform and assign “unique patient identifiers” to people who undergo the procedure, the bill text states.
Republican Oklahoma State Rep. Kevin West crafted the new bill with help from the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, which helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Democratic State Rep. Trish Ranson was the only committee member to vote against the bill.
“I believe this is something we should not be doing as a state, as a society, and frankly, as Christians,” Ranson was quoted saying in a Tulsa World report.
Ranson expressed concerns that Oklahomans would have restricted access to birth control. West, however, said the bill only targets “over-the-counter contraception that is not used under a physician’s supervision,” The Oklahoman wrote.
That could include emergency contraception such as Plan B – an over-the-counter so-called morning-after pill used to prevent pregnancy by delaying ovulation.
Another bill, Oklahoma House Bill 3013, would make it a felony to deliver or possess with the intent to deliver abortion drugs. Anyone convicted of trafficking or attempting to traffic abortion-induction drugs could be fined a maximum of $100,000 or sent to prison for as many as 10 years.
Oklahoma already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the United States, banning the procedure entirely unless it is performed to save a pregnant person’s life.
Those life-saving abortions are referenced throughout the bill’s text as “pre-viability separation procedures.”