US ‘Oklahoma court strikes down two laws that restrict abortion | World news
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that two state laws governing abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure is illegal in the state in all cases except dangerous situations.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said the two bans were invalid because they required a “medical emergency” before a doctor could perform an abortion. The court said this language conflicts with a previous ruling issued in March that determined Oklahoma’s law provides “the inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to protect her life.”
The court’s decision was welcomed by doctors who said uncertainty about state abortion laws often forces them to let women facing severe medical complications and unviable pregnancies wait. them to get worse before they can have an abortion.
“In our practice we have cases where we will just have to tell women that we will offer a normal termination (of pregnancy) to protect her health… ‘We have to let her go home and monitor her condition and if you start showing signs of infection or worsening blood pressure, then come back and we have the ability to treat you legally,” Dana Stone, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Oklahoma City. However, we are at risk with these laws of going to prison for 10 years, having hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and losing our medical licenses.”
Despite the court’s March ruling that the requirement to wait until an active medical emergency violates state law, uncertainty remains because of two laws in effect.
“With their decision today, the court has ensured that the March decision will be fully implemented,” said Rabia Muqaddam, a senior staff attorney at the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which opposes the laws in location of a Tulsa abortion provider. . “We hope that patients will receive the critical health care they need without waiting until they are at death’s door.”
Since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling last year in Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion, more abortion restrictions have been enacted in many republican states and abortion ban protections have gone into effect in most of those dominated by Democrats. independent government. .
The laws passed Wednesday in Oklahoma both include a state ordinance, first enacted in Texas in 2021, that allows citizens to sue someone who performs or assists someone in performing an abortion.
“Despite today’s court decisions on SB 1503 and HB 4327, Oklahoma’s 1910 law prohibiting abortion remains in place,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement. of Oklahoma.”
A 1910 Oklahoma law made it a felony punishable by up to five years in prison for anyone to perform an abortion or assist a woman in obtaining an abortion unless “it is necessary to preserve her life.”
The court’s decision was criticized by Republican leaders and Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has worked for years to tightly restrict abortion access in Oklahoma.
“This court has once again involved itself in the democratic process of the state, and has begged to reform the law created by the will of the people,” Stitt said in a statement. “I agree with Justice (Dustin) Rowe’s dissent, ‘The issues presented in this case are political questions, which the people are best resolved through our democratic process.’ “
