'Not done.'Activists say abortion restrictions in Oklahoma aren't enough

An annual anti-abortion campaign began on Wednesday in the Oklahoma City metro area, with activists saying their mission to eliminate legalized abortion is still incomplete, despite Oklahoma's abortion ban.

Mike Hurney, coordinator of the Oklahoma City 40 Days for Life campaign, said activists will be standing on the sidewalks and other public right-of-way areas to pray and spread their anti-abortion message outside the Planned Parenthood centers at 619 NW 23 in Oklahoma City and 1601 S Boulevard, Suite 108, in Edmond for the next several weeks. He said local abortion opponents are continuing their efforts because Planned Parenthood is referring women to abortion providers in other states.

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Thus, he said legalized abortion has not been entirely eradicated, even with the state law making surgical and medical abortion illegal.

"We won the battle, but we haven't won the war against abortion here," Hurney said. "Our goal is to end abortion completely."

Anamarie Rebori Simmons, communications director of Kansas-based Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said that abortion is illegal in the state of Oklahoma and that includes both medication and surgical abortion. The organization oversees regional Planned Parenthood operations, which includes Oklahoma.

"Since a total abortion ban was signed into law, Planned Parenthood Great Plains has not provided any abortion services in Oklahoma," she said. "We have said that many times previously and that has not changed while abortion remains illegal." 

Simmons said the organization continues to help patients access care in states where abortion is legal. Earlier this year, the agency's leaders discussed the expansion of its Patient Navigation Program designed to help women in states where abortion is illegal connect to abortion providers in states where the procedure is not unlawful.

"Every person deserves to be able to access basic health care without the opinion or judgement of others," Simmons said. "The safety of our patients and staff is always top priority and we continue to ensure they have a space, free of judgement, to receive health care. Our doors are open to all."

Simmons also said it's important to note that emergency contraceptives, which anti-abortion activists sometimes confuse with medication abortion, are legal in Oklahoma.

"The fact is emergency contraceptives are not medication abortion," Simmons said.

Medication abortion, also referred to as abortion pills, is a series of pills taken over a few days to end a pregnancy. 

Medication abortion is not the same as emergency contraception, also called Plan B or the “morning after” pill, which can be taken within a few days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. 

There are a few types of emergency contraception pills, but none are abortifacients. The pills cannot terminate a pregnancy; they work by delaying ovulation, thereby preventing fertilization, or by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting.

On Wednesday, Hurney and four other activists stood outside the Planned Parenthood Center on NW 23. They held signs promoting the faith-based 40 Days for Life campaign and its stance against abortion. The group said the campaign has been conducted in the Oklahoma City area for several years and this year, in a post-Roe America, is no different.

In the aftermath of the the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade in June, the Oklahoma Legislature enacted new restrictions on abortion, including one that bans all abortions except to save the life of a pregnant person. There is no exception for abortions in the case of pregnancies from rape or incest.

Hurney said he would not be surprised if passersby and others in the community wondered why abortion opponents would continue to protest against abortion even though Oklahoma's surgical abortion ban is considered one of the strictest in the nation.

"It's kind of a natural response because it's likely that many Oklahoma think the battle is over," Hurney said.

Mixed reaction to signage

The international 40 Days for Life campaign is designed as a way for local activists to be part of a worldwide "peaceful and educational presence" promoting the sanctity of human life and bearing witness to the "tragic reality of abortion," according to the campaign's website. The campaign began on Wednesday and continues through Nov. 6.

Pedestrians and motorists on NW 23, seemed to respond to activists holding anti-abortion signage in a variety of ways. One motorist yelled an expletive as they drove past the group. Fifteen minutes later, a man in a pickup shared words of encouragement from his window as he pulled up to a stop sign on a side street.

Hurney said his group already had received some negative responses, as well as positive reactions, to their prayer vigil campaign. He said they are encouraged by the people who wish them well and inspired by those who do the opposite.

"That inspires us, it doesn't deter us," he said of negative pushback.

The activist, who attends St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond, said his group ultimately wants to be a Christian witness against abortion, which he described as taking a life, and they also want to let women know that there is help available to them.

His wife, Renee, agreed.

"Oklahoma becomes a pipeline to states where abortion is still legal, and we don't want that," she said. "We don't want to be a conduit for that."