OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – 2022 was monumental for abortion law in Oklahoma.
After the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court, abortion was banned in our state. But some confusion remains about exemptions to the ban, and a state lawmaker has proposed a law to provide clarity.
State Senator Julie Daniels, R-District 29, hopes the specific language in Senate Bill 834 would make it crystal clear what is and what isn’t considered a legal abortion in Oklahoma.
“We thought it best to go in and standardize and clarify what exceptions are allowed, what we mean by ‘medical emergency’ and ‘reasonable medical judgment,’ so that wherever you look in our statutes that have to do with life, you will see consistency,” she explained to KFOR.
The measure highlights that abortions would be allowed to preserve the life of the mother in a medical emergency, and in cases of rape, sexual assault, or incest of a minor that’s been reported to law enforcement.
It also says that an abortion would not be in violation of Oklahoma law if it was to save the life of an unborn child, remove a dead unborn child whose death was caused by a miscarriage, or remove an ectopic pregnancy.
It also states that the “use, prescription, administration, procuring, or selling of any type of contraception shall not be a violation” of the law.
Senate Bill 834 also focuses on in vitro fertilization, saying treatments for women who are trying to get pregnant would not go against the state’s abortion laws.
“My motivation for this bill is to continue to save as many unborn children in Oklahoma as we can,” Daniels said. “I want Oklahomans to look at these as very reasonable exceptions and to sign on to preserving the life of as many unborn Oklahomans as possible and keep us a pro-life state.”
Some OBGYN’s, like Dr. Dana Stone in Oklahoma City, appreciate the clarification, but stress that there are cases where an abortion is best for the mother’s health even when it’s not a medical emergency.
“So, we would like to intervene while she’s still healthy, when her life is not at peril at that moment,” Stone explained. “So, they have kind of put us in the situation where we have to watch something evolve that we know is dangerous to our mother, but we have to wait until her life is in danger, rather than her health is in danger, in order to treat her.”
Daniels told KFOR she’s confident her bill will pass because of how reliably pro-life the legislature has been for many years.
Meanwhile, other conservative state lawmakers are wanting to make sure pregnant women are taken care of from conception.
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat’s Senate Bill 694 which would allow pregnant people to qualify for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
“So, it’s a program that gets people help that have less income and it really has helped a lot of mothers once their child is born, but there’s been a gap between when they get pregnant to when the child is actually born where they need help and this would get the dollars to them immediately.”
Currently, TANF money can only be granted once the children are born.