Oklahoma Senate Passes Bill Criminalizing Abortion

An Oklahoma bill that would make performing an abortion a felony is one signature away from becoming law after the state's Senate passed it Thursday.

Under the bill, anyone who performs an abortion could face up to three years in prison, and doctors could have their medical licenses revoked.

It is said to be the strictest of its kind in the country, and the state's lawmakers expect significant legal challenges to it. Nathan Dahm, a Republican senator and author of the bill, told the Associated Press that he hopes the bill and its impending journey through the courts will help overturn Roe v. Wade.

The bill passed 33-12 in the state senate with no discussion or debate.

"Since I believe life begins at conception, it should be protected, and I believe it's a core function of state government to defend that life from the beginning of conception," Dahm, the Oklahoma senator, told the AP.

Dawn Johnson, a law professor at Indiana who worked in the Justice Department under Bill Clinton, told Patch that the law "is clearly unconstitutional" and would be immediately injoined by a lower court as the legal process began.

"With this Supreme Court, and precedent as it stands now, the law is unconstitutional," she said. "It just will create an unnecessary expense for the state when they have to defend this law."

Gov. Mary Fallin has not indicated whether she will sign the bill, which passed the state's house in April, but she has been a pro-life champion during her term.

The Center for Reproductive Rights said that Fallin has signed 18 anti-abortion bills into law, all of which have been blocked by courts.

One of those threatened prison time for doctors who perform second-trimester abortions but was struck down by a state judge. Roe v .Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision, established that abortions carried out before the third trimester are legal.

"It seems to be more of a political statement in an election year than a realistic effort to get the court to overrule Roe," Johnson said of the current bill. "Because it will clearly fail with this court."