May 4—While the state has furthered numerous pieces of legislation restricting abortion access, a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that could overturn Roe v. Wade has further stoked the divide on the topic among women in Northwest Oklahoma.

Around 10 women holding handmade signs spent early Tuesday evening standing in the gazebo of the Garfield County Court House lawn, chanting call-and-responses including “Our bodies, our choice,” “We will not go back” and “Women’s rights are human rights.”

The small group came to downtown Enid with just hours’ notice as protests also began in larger cities throughout the state and the rest of the nation, including the Supreme Court in Washington.

The demonstrations reportedly were in response to a draft majority opinion that Politico leaked Monday night over the court’s expected decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which would reverse the half-century law of the land on abortions.

Jessa Lynni said she came downtown because she felt apologetic for women who’d have to carry a child they didn’t want to have.

“While I choose to be a mother, it’s not the right choice for everyone,” she said. “And people who ... don’t feel like that’s for them should have that choice, and that takes that away from them.”

Enid resident Romy Owens held the megaphone, deciding the group’s next phrase to chant.

“It isn’t that there are just 10 of us here. It’s that we’re 10 of the millions in the nation,” she said. “We know there are more than 10, but Enid is just a scary place to protest, so I get why people wouldn’t.”

As the women continued their protest, a man across the street visibly shook his head as he walked into a restaurant.

In 1973, the high court ruled 5-2 that woman in the United States have a constitutional right to have an abortion.

In 2022, that ruling could be reversed, as could 1993’s Casey v. Pennsylvania decision that upheld Roe, as indicated by draft opinion from the conservative majority of justices, written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito, which the news site Politico leaked Monday.

If the court sides with the state of Mississippi’s appeal of a circuit court ruling, the decision could prohibit all abortions after 15 weeks.

Nancy Presnall, chair of the Garfield County Democratic Party, said she believed overturning Roe v. Wade would open the door to overturning other legal precedents such as birth control access, mixed-race marriage and voting rights.

“I think those things are probably on the Republicans’ agenda,” Presnall said Tuesday. “They just want to turn the clock back 50 years — and more.”

She said she hoped the Biden administration and the Democratic leadership would codify Roe v. Wade before the ruling is set to be finalized by this summer.

“For the time being, I’m taking this (draft) as a reality,” she said. “It’s just a really sad day.”

According to a poll last week from the Washington Post/ABC News, 69% of Americans support upholding the 1973 ruling, 6 percentage points lower than a November poll had reported.

Seven out of 10 respondents said the abortion decision should be left up to a woman and her doctor.

Janet Cordell, who runs Enid Community Clinic, said while she was working full time as a nurse, access to abortion for pregnant women in Oklahoma had been only available in the Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita, Kan., areas.

But abortion access already has never been available in Northwest Oklahoma, as far as Cordell knew.

Cordell said she couldn’t say if she was pro-abortion or pro-life, but said she was “pro-health care” and “prowoman’s choice.”

“It’s a question of women’s health, as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “If women are desperate enough to find an abortion, they will find one.”

Cordell said she believed there’s not a strong enough continuance of care for mothers and children after pregnancy, while adoption doesn’t seem to be an option for most people.

Valerie Wissman, who coordinates Hennessey’s annual pro-life prayer event, Life Chain, said the local and state pregnancy support centers would need to gear up for more “crisis pregnancies” once the numerous state laws take effect.

“There’s gonna need to be more pregnancy centers,” Wissman said, “but I believe that it will happen — that people will step up — and I’m so proud of our state for leading out in the legislation that we’ve had to do away with abortions.”

Legal experts say the ruling effectively would leave decisions to the states on abortion restrictions and bans.

After Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 612 into law last month, he promised to sign all future state legislation restricting abortions.

He did so on Tuesday, signing into law Senate Bill 1503, which will immediately prohibit abortions when early cardiac activity is detected in an embryo or fetus. This can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Meanwhile, SB 612, which takes effect July 1, will criminalize performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, except in the case of a threat to a mother’s life.

Still awaiting House approval is the similar HB 4327, which would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers.

State Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, co-authored SB 612 and later SB 1503, deemed the Heartbeat Act.

She said on Tuesday she was hopeful about the Supreme Court’s news, but added, “I am very concerned about how the news came about,” referring to the leak from the high court offices.

“I will hold any celebration until we have confirmation that the Supreme Court has issued a ruling,” said Crosswhite Hader, who represents a swath of southern Garfield County and all of Kingfisher County as part of her House district.

As of last Thursday, Planned Parenthood and other regional abortion providers are challenging 1503 and 612 in court.

Wissman, with Life Chain, a nationwide event, said she believed the expected SCOTUS decision would nullify these lower-court legal challenges.

“I don’t know why it’s taken so long for the legislation to change, but I’m glad that it finally is. ... It’s way too long overdue,” she said. “Whatever states are doing now, it’s going to be challenged, but for them to be effective and lasting, it’s going to take this overturn of Roe v. Wade.”

If Roe is overturned, Oklahoma also has a “trigger law” that would go into effect immediately, allowing the state to enforce a 1910 law criminalizing nearly all cases of abortion.

At Tuesday’s protest, Enid resident Christina Robinson said in 1910 — when abortion was illegal and criminalized in all 50 states — women also couldn’t vote, couldn’t open a bank account without a husband’s approval or get their own medical care in the U.S.

“The improvements that have been made in women’s rights since 1910, it’s immense. It’s big, it’s great,” she said, “so it is feeling like being thrown back into the Dark Ages.”