{"id":33871,"date":"2021-03-04T10:51:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33871"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:05:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:05:41","slug":"oklahoma-lawmakers-introduce-now-traditional-abortion-bills-in-a-changing-political-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/03\/04\/oklahoma-lawmakers-introduce-now-traditional-abortion-bills-in-a-changing-political-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma lawmakers introduce now-traditional abortion bills in a changing political environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/085bc6d3-d695-4675-860b-2666c90e8550\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><em>This story was produced in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readfrontier.org\">The Frontier<\/a>&#8216;s Kassie McClung.<\/em><\/p><p>Optimistic in light of the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s political shift, conservative Oklahoma lawmakers are pushing for laws to further restrict abortion access.<\/p><p>Legislators have sponsored more than a dozen abortion bills for the 2021 session. Members introduced a bill that would ban abortion after a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat \u2014 usually around six weeks, when many women don\u2019t yet know they\u2019re pregnant. Another bill would restrict which doctors can perform the procedure.<\/p><p>One \u201ctrigger bill\u201d would automatically ban abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned or altered Roe. v. Wade, the 1973 landmark opinion that established a woman\u2019s right to have an abortion. On Jan. 21 \u2014 one day before Roe v. Wade\u2019s 48th anniversary \u2014Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, filed the measure.<\/p><p>The shift in the U.S. Supreme Court didn\u2019t prompt the introduction of the anti-abortion bills, but it did ignite more optimism among Oklahoma lawmakers, Treat said.<\/p><p>\u201cObviously, there are some of us that have more hope going into it, but it has not driven us filing these bills or pursuing these policies,\u201d Treat said during a media availability last week. \u201cThis is just what we have done for a very long time.\u201d<\/p><p>Under the Trump Administration, the U.S. Supreme Court shifted to a conservative majority. Republican officials and anti-abortion rights groups have long pushed for a conservative court as a means to effectively overturn Roe v. Wade and restrict access to abortion in Oklahoma. Constitutional challenges to state-level abortion bills \u2014 such as the ones Oklahoma is considering \u2014 could work their way to the nation\u2019s highest court, creating an opportunity for the court to change course on Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_33872\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33872\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-672x458.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-672x458.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-1920x1309.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-768x524.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-620x423.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP21020662953061-1584x1080.jpg 1584w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett arrive for the 59th Presidential Inauguration in Washington. The two justices ushered in the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Jonathan Ernst\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Similarly, justices appointed by Democratic governors held a majority on the Oklahoma Supreme Court for decades. Throughout that time, the Court has consistently overturned the Legislature\u2019s abortion restriction bills.<\/p><p>However, with Justice Tom Colbert\u2019s retirement announced in early 2021, the makeup of that court is shifting as well. Gov. Kevin Stitt has started the Supreme Court appointment process and is awaiting recommendations from the Judicial Nominating Commission, according to a spokesman for the office.<\/p><p>Another justice is expected to retire in the near future. That could be the break Republicans need to take their first majority of the state Supreme Court, said Connor Alford, a political science instructor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University<\/p><p>\u201cIt will depend on who they select, but it is an opportunity to basically go from an era in our state\u2019s history where the left had complete control over the court, to a point where the right now has a genuine opportunity in the next few years to change that drastically,\u201d Alford said.<\/p><p>Although a conservative U.S. Supreme Court could be more favorable to anti-abortion legislation, Alford said to take that with a grain of salt. Federal Republican judicial nominees have held majorities for long stretches since Roe v. Wade, but they haven\u2019t overturned it. In fact, they were instrumental in the case.<\/p><p>\u201cActually, six of the seven justices who voted for abortion were Republican appointees,\u201d Alford said of Roe v. Wade.<\/p><p>Just days after Oklahoma\u2019s legislative session started last month, abortion came front and center. Crowds of maskless anti-abortion rights activists filled the state Captiol in early February and heckled lawmakers, who were flanked by armed guards as they exited a Senate Health and Human Services Committee.<\/p><p>The committee, in its first hearing since the pandemic started, heard six anti-abortion bills, which accounted for a third of the bils considered that day. Committee members passed five of the abortion bills, but unanimously rejected one that would classify abortion as homicide. That measure would have punished not only physicians performing abortions, but also patients who undergo the procedure.<\/p><p>Abortion rights advocates say the proposed bills are meant to scare women out of accessing abortion or make them believe they cannot access it. The shift in the U.S. Supreme Court has emboldened state lawmakers to advocate for abortion bans at a \u201creally quick pace,\u201d said Gloria Pedro, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes&#8217; regional manager of public policy and organizing for Arkansas and Oklahoma.<\/p><p>\u201cWe are seeing these fights play out in states all across the nation, so yes, it\u2019s happening in Oklahoma, and it\u2019s super crazy but it\u2019s also not an isolated incident,\u201d Pedro said. \u201cSo that just lets us know the time to keep the pressure on is now.\u201d<\/p><p>In Oklahoma, which has some of the strictest regulations on abortion in the U.S., women must first receive a sonogram and wait at least 72 hours before the procedure. Most abortions in Oklahoma are banned after 20 weeks.<\/p><p>There were four clinics in Oklahoma performing abortions in 2017, and only three of the state\u2019s counties had a clinic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guttmacher.org\/sites\/default\/files\/report_downloads\/abortion-incidence-service-availability-us-2017-tables.pdf\">according data from the Guttmacher Institute<\/a>, a national research and policy organization that supports abortion rights.<\/p><p>In 2019, 4,424 abortions were performed in the state, a 27 percent decrease from 2009 when there were 6,044, <a href=\"https:\/\/oklahoma.gov\/content\/dam\/ok\/en\/health\/health2\/documents\/2019-itop-report.pdf\">according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health<\/a>.<\/p><p>At a committee hearing on Feb. 24, Todd Russ, R-Cordell, who authored the \u201cheartbeat bill,\u201d said the legislation would put Oklahoma in a better position to restrict abortion. Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa, asked Russ if the measure could undermine Roe v. Wade and noted his concern that women might be unaware they\u2019re pregnant so early.<\/p><p>\u201cWell, whether they know they\u2019re pregnant or not, I\u2019m pretty sure they know they could be,\u201d Russ said.<\/p><p>Russ said the bill didn\u2019t challenge Roe v. Wade directly.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_33874\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33874\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-672x542.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-672x542.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-1920x1549.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-768x619.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-150x121.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-620x500.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/03\/AP17004743708341-1339x1080.jpg 1339w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma state Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, is pictured on the House floor in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo\/Sue Ogrocki)<\/p>\n<\/div><p>The bill also contains language that would require physicians to provide those seeking medication-induced abortions information about reversing the medication\u2019s effects \u2014 information that critics <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acog.org\/advocacy\/facts-are-important\/medication-abortion-reversal-is-not-supported-by-science\">say is misleading<\/a>, unscientific and potentially dangerous.<\/p><p>One proposed law would <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20INT\/SB\/SB584%20INT.PDF\">prohibit Planned Parenthood<\/a> from receiving any public funds.<\/p><p>Another bill <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2021-22%20FLR\/HFLR\/HB1904%20HFLR.PDF\">aims to limit who can perform abortions<\/a>, requiring that the procedure only be performed by medical doctors who are board certified in obstretics and gynecology.<\/p><p>That measure was one of the first abortion bills to make it to a full floor hearing. The House considered it this week, and debated it for over an hour. Supporters heralded the measure as a way to protect women who undergo abortions, referring to the procedure as morally incorrigible throughout.<\/p><p>Lawmakers opposed to the measure have said it would reduce access to the procedure and questioned its constitutionality. Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, one of the bill\u2019s authors, said similar bills have survived court challenges in other states.<\/p><p>South Carolina has such a law in effect, but similar measures in Arkansas and Louisiana have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guttmacher.org\/state-policy\/explore\/targeted-regulation-abortion-providers\">paused pending court challenges<\/a>.<\/p><p>\u201cIf we can save one life with this legislation then we\u2019ve done our job,\u201d Roe said on Tuesday.<\/p><p>Tamya Cox-Tour\u00e9, Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice Co-Chair, said the proposed measure is an attempt to ban abortion.<\/p><p>\u201cWe&#8217;re really concerned about that. Any time the Oklahoma legislature tries to remove access, it negatively impacts people of color and negatively impacts people of lesser means, and that is a problem for us,\u201d Cox-Tour\u00e9 said.<\/p><p>Minority Leader Emily Virgin, D-Norman, said if lawmakers want to improve women\u2019s health, they should place their resources in other areas, such as providing comprehensive sex education and expanding access to paid family medical leave.<\/p><p>\u201cIf you truly want to decrease the number of abortions that take place in this state there are proven strategies to do so. But time and again this body fails to take those policies up,\u201d Virgin said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story was produced in partnership with The Frontier&#8216;s Kassie McClung.Optimistic in light of the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s political shift, conservative Oklahoma lawmakers are pushing for laws to further restrict abortion access.Legislators have sponsored more than a dozen abortion bills for the 2021 session. Members introduced a bill that would ban abortion after a doctor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":33873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33871"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34085,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33871\/revisions\/34085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}