WASHINGTON — As Texas’ restrictive abortion ban remains in effect, leading to Texans having to travel to other states to have access to the procedure, a Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma plans to push a bill that mirrors the Texas law.
Rep. Sean Roberts, who represents a state House district northwest of Tulsa, said his bill would allow any individual in Oklahoma to sue doctors who perform an abortion after conception that is not to save the mother’s life.
“Individual citizens are an extremely important part of making sure that we are protecting the lives of the unborn,” Roberts said in a statement on Jan. 7. “This legislation puts principle into action and I am going to fight extremely hard to get it passed during the upcoming session.”
Under the Oklahoma bill, plaintiffs would be able to seek up to $10,000 in damages in civil court against abortion providers or anyone who “aids and abets” such an abortion. The threat of such a hefty payout has proved to be an effective deterrent in Texas, where abortion providers across the state have scaled back services and the number of abortions performed has plummeted.
This aspect of the Texas law, its novel enforcement mechanism intended to shield the law from federal court oversight, seemed to inspire the most concern from Supreme Court justices when they heard arguments on the law’s constitutionality Nov. 1.
Ultimately, justices left the Texas law in place on Dec. 10 and merely referred the fate of SB 8 and access to abortion in Texas back to lower courts for further consideration.
As a result, Texans are traveling long distances to clinics across the country seeking abortions, though especially to neighboring states. The Dallas Morning News reported in December that Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas saw 40 Texans the previous fall, but since September there had been more than 800.
In his press release, Roberts said that according to Oklahoma State Department of Health 2021 statistics, the number of Texas residents seeking abortions in Oklahoma has increased since SB 8 went into effect.
Consequently, Roberts said, this necessitates the passing of a similar law in Oklahoma.
“This legislation is critical, and it must be passed this session to stem the tide of Texans seeking abortions in our state,” Roberts said. “No matter what, I will continue to be a voice for the voiceless and a champion for pro-life Oklahomans.”
Oklahoma routinely passes some of the strictest anti-abortion measures in the country, and Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he would sign any anti-abortion bill the Legislature sends him, The Associated Press reported. The Oklahoma Legislature is scheduled to convene in a regular session on Feb. 7 and adjourn on May 27.
And Oklahoma isn’t the only state looking to pass SB 8 copycat bills. Lawmakers in Florida, Arkansas, Indiana, South Dakota and North Dakota have either already committed to introducing similar legislation or said they’re interested in doing so.
But there’s a potential game changer on abortion laws pending before the Supreme Court: a challenge to a 15-week ban in Mississippi, which poses a serious threat to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized the procedure nationwide.
If the court overturns Roe, which many believe it might, 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion, effectively cutting off access across wide swaths of the South and Midwest. The ruling on the Mississippi law is expected at the end of the court’s term in late June.
Texas already has a law on the books to ban abortion if Roe falls. Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma have similar trigger laws, leaving New Mexico the only bordering state poised to allow it.
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(Dallas Morning News Austin Bureau correspondent Allie Morris contributed to this report.)
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