Oklahoma Supreme Court says women have right to abortion if their life is at risk
By Zach Rael
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court said women have the right to abortion if their life is at risk.
Under the new ruling, doctors do not have to wait until a woman has a medical emergency to intervene. They can perform the abortion if they believe her life is at risk, even before she’s in a medical emergency.
The state Supreme Court struck down a law that was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt last year. While it is a narrow win for abortion rights advocates, they said not much will change because of other pro-life laws currently on the books.
“The OK Supreme Court has articulated a fundamental right to receive abortions when your life is at risk,” said Rabia Muqaddam, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
It was a split 5-4 decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The justices ruled the state Constitution guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion if her doctor determined the pregnancy would risk her life.
Previously, the law said women could only get an abortion under a medical emergency. The court declined to rule on whether women can get an abortion for other reasons.
“It does provide some relief to providers and patients, but it is devastating that it doesn’t go farther,” Muqaddam said.
The senior lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights said for the majority of women in Oklahoma, abortion will still be outlawed.
“Day one, right after the decision, unfortunately, there isn’t going to be a change on the ground,” Muqaddam said.
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Sen. Nathan Dahm, who wrote the bill that was overturned, and several other anti-abortion bills that are now law, had harsh words for the justices.
“It’s not important that they are liberal but that they are incompetent. Because they are incompetent, they used the incompetency to come up and try and create this right to abortion that does not exist in our constitution,” Dahm said.
Stitt also said in a comment, “I wholeheartedly disagree with this activist majority’s opinion creating a right to an abortion in Oklahoma. Alarmingly, this activist majority acted out of hand by making a policy decision that belongs to the people.”
Abortion advocates said this is a small step toward reproductive rights, while Stitt and Dahm said they will continue to protect the lives of the unborn and pursue legislation that values life.
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