Oklahoma House Passes Texas-Style Abortion Ban

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — The Oklahoma House passed a Texas-style abortion ban Thursday, sending the bill to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it in the coming days.

Senate Bill 1503, known as the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, makes it illegal for a physician to perform an abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks. Like the Texas law passed last year, enforcement is left to private citizens, who can sue anyone who performs or "aids or abets" an abortion that violates the law for an award of up to $10,000.

The Oklahoma bill makes an exception for medical emergencies, but does not include an exception for rape or incest.

It's the second bill severely limiting access to abortion passed in the state this month after Stitt signed SB 612 on April 12.

The new law makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. This law also does not include punishments for the person receiving the abortion. The criminal approach to enforcement could make the bill harder to enforce and more easily challenged than the civil enforcement popularized by Texas' law.

SB 612 does not take effect until later in the summer, while an emergency provision in SB 1503 means it would take effect immediately upon Stitt's signing.

"We are more concerned at this point about these Texas-style bans because they have, at least recently, been able to continue and remain in effect," Planned Parenthood Great Plains Interim President and CEO Emily Wales told the Associated Press. "We do intend to challenge those if they're passed, but because of the emergency clause provisions, there would be at least some period of time when we could not offer care."

Planned Parenthood, which operates two abortion clinics in Oklahoma, quickly voiced its opposition to the passing of the bill in a social media post to its Twitter account, promising to see the state in court.

The nature of the bill's emergency enactment means many women in Oklahoma will have to seek abortions elsewhere on short notice and also creates issues for Texans who had been coming to Oklahoma to receive abortions since the passage of SB 8.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October, the agency reported.

Stitt previously stated he hoped the new law would "curb" people flooding into the state to receive abortions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.