Oklahoma – REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ALERTS

14 Apr

Oklahoma senators spurned fearmongering about women’s health. Will the House and governor step up?

PatLatest NewsContraception, legislation, Oklahoma, Opinion, Reproductive rights

A tip of the hat to Oklahoma’s state senators who managed to do some good governing that, for once, actually would help improve women’s health. These brave lawmakers voted to allow women to access six months’s worth of birth control at a time. That would make life infinitely easier for tens of thousands of Oklahomans who rely on contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies or to treat other medical problems such as acne, irregular periods or endometriosis.

10 Apr

How one group is educating Oklahomans on reproductive health care amid state abortion ban

ChaseLatest NewsAbortion Ban, Healthcare, Oklahoma, Reproductive rights, United States

Magon Hoffman said she never saw herself as someone who would choose to terminate a pregnancy. In 2022, the Oklahoma City resident went through fertility treatment to conceive her second daughter, Lottie. She said she was excited. But around 14 weeks, Hoffman said she woke up bleeding. What she worried was a miscarriage turned out to be a large blood clot that had developed because a portion of her placenta had lifted from her cervix. She said this basically put her on bed rest for weeks.

31 Mar

No One Could Say: Accessing Emergency Obstetrics Information as a Prospective Prenatal Patient in Post-Roe Oklahoma

TobysFundLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Care, Abortion Pills, Abortion Rights, Civil and Criminal Penalties, Dobbs v Jackson, Emergency Obstetrics, Health Care Providers, Healthcare, legislation, Oklahoma, Post-Roe, Prenatal care, Supreme Court, travel, United States, Woman's Health Organization

In the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Oklahoma residents are currently living under three overlapping and inconsistent state abortion bans that, if violated, impose severe civil and criminal penalties on health care providers.

03 Feb

State legislators aim to restrict abortion pills, ‘trafficking’ next in states with bans

TobysFundLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, abortion bills, Abortion Care, Abortion Pills, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, House bills, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, legislation, Missouri, Oklahoma, Reproductive rights, Senate Bills, travel, United States

More than half of state legislatures across the country started their 2024 legislative sessions in January, and plenty of abortion-related bills have already been introduced, especially in states where the procedure is already banned. It can be hard to monitor them all, so States Newsroom’s Reproductive Rights Today team will track certain bills that could become law in their respective states in a bi-weekly legislative roundup. Depending on the partisan makeup of a state’s legislature and other state government officials, some bills have a higher chance of passing and becoming law than others.

15 Nov

Oklahoma Supreme Court keeps anti-abortion laws on hold while challenge is pending

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Rights, anti-abortion laws, legislation, Oklahoma, State Supreme Court, Supreme Court, United States

"The Oklahoma Supreme Court reiterated its position on Tuesday in a 5-4 opinion that the state constitution guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion when necessary to preserve her life, although the procedure remains illegal in virtually all other cases. In a case involving a legal challenge to five separate anti-abortion bills passed by the Legislature in 2021, the court ordered a lower court to keep in place a temporary ban on three of those laws while the merits of the case are considered. Two of the laws were already put on hold by a district court judge."

25 Sep

OKLAHOMA WATCH: Her pregnancy was non-viable and her life was at risk but Oklahoma Law Prevented an Abortion

MollyUnited StatesMiscarriage, Non-viable pregnancy, Oklahoma, United States

"When she awoke on the couch in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, Magon Hoffman’s pajama pants were soaked in blood. What began as light bleeding the night before had turned severe. Hoffman assumed she was miscarrying. But an ultrasound revealed it was Hoffman’s life that was in danger. At 14 weeks, the fetus seemed healthy, but Hoffman, 31, had one of the largest blood clots her doctor had ever seen and was at risk of going into shock or organ failure if it continued to grow...."

13 Sep

Women, doctors announce legal action against abortion bans in 3 states

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Care, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, Idaho, Lawsuit, Oklahoma, Tennessee, United States

"Women in Idaho, Oklahoma and Tennessee filed legal actions against their states over abortion bans, saying they were denied abortions despite having dangerous pregnancy complications. Four women in Idaho -- Jennifer Adkins, Jillaine St.Michel, Kayla Smith and Rebecca Vincen-Brown -- and abortion providers filed a suit against the state, Gov. Brad Little, attorney general and the state's board of medicine, claiming the state's ban has "sown confusion, fear and chaos among the medical community, resulting in grave harms to pregnant patients whose health and safety hang in the balance across the state," according to a copy of the lawsuit shared with…

07 Jul

After court rulings, Oklahoma doctors are still confused about when abortion is legal to save a patient’s life

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Care, Healthcare, legislation, Oklahoma, United States

"...But an Oklahoma law from 1910 that outlaws most abortions is still in effect. That law says abortions are allowed only when necessary to preserve a mother’s life. Otherwise, medical professionals can be charged with a felony and face up to five years in prison. But doctors still aren’t certain when they can perform the procedure. Other states that have banned most abortions including Utah, Georgia and Louisiana have laws with more specific language, permitting terminating a pregnancy to prevent serious, irreversible damage to a life-sustaining organ, but Oklahoma’s law contains no specifics or clear definitions....."

01 Jun

Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down two laws restricting abortion

BarbraUnited StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Rights, legislation, Oklahoma, Supreme Court, United States

"The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down two laws Wednesday that required a “medical emergency” before a doctor could terminate a pregnancy to save a mother’s life, but abortion access remains heavily restricted in the state...."