Skip to content
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Donate
icon-hamburger icon-magnifying-glass Donate
icon-magnifying-glass-teal

Oklahoma’s Vigilante Abortion Ban Takes Effect, Further Devastating Access in the Region

Center for Reproductive Rights - Center for Reproductive Rights - search logo
search Close Close icon
Center for Reproductive Rights -
Menu Close Menu Close icon
Donate

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Related Content

Issues:

Abortion, Legal Restrictions

Regions:

United States

Work:

In the Courts

Type:

News, Story

Case Archive

For updates on Center cases, explore our case archive here.

Follow the Center

Donate Now

Join Now

05.04.2022

In the Courts Abortion United States Story

Oklahoma’s Vigilante Abortion Ban Takes Effect, Further Devastating Access in the Region

Virginia Sobol
Oklahoma Supreme Court declines to block the Texas-style law.

Share

  • facebook
  • Twitter
  • linkedin
  • Email id
©Natalia Bratslavsky/Fotolia/Adobe Stock

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has declined to block a citizen-enforced ban on abortion that will further devastate abortion access in the region. The ban, S.B. 1503, took effect after Governor Kevin Stitt signed it into law yesterday, shortly before the Court’s ruling.

S.B. 1503 will prohibit abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy and encourage individuals to bring costly and harassing lawsuits against abortion providers, health center workers, or others who help someone access abortion care in Oklahoma in violation of the law. Those who successfully sue would be rewarded with at least $10,000.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling was in response to a challenge filed April 28 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners to block the law.

Will the South become an abortion desert?

What if Roe fell? U.S. Abortion Laws MapWhat if Roe fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map link

What if Roe fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map

If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, 24 states are poised to ban abortion.

“We are disappointed that the Oklahoma Supreme Court did not step in to block this radical and unconstitutional law before it took effect, and we hope that we will ultimately be able to block it,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center. “The impact of this ban will reverberate far beyond Oklahoma. Many Texans have been fleeing to Oklahoma for abortion services and may now be out of options. This is just a preview of what’s to come if Roe is overturned. States are already working together to create enormous abortion deserts that many people will not be able to cross. We will keep fighting to get this law blocked—this is not over.”

Following Texas’s Law, Oklahoma Ban Will Expand the Abortion Desert in the Region

Since the U.S. Supreme Court failed to block Texas’s vigilante abortion ban, S.B. 8, in September, most abortion access has ended in the state. Patients in Texas are being turned away in droves, prevented from accessing time-sensitive abortion care and forced to travel hundreds of miles to Oklahoma and other neighboring states to access care. Those who can’t afford to travel are being forced to carry pregnancies against their will. As with other abortion bans, those facing obstacles to accessing care—such as people living on low incomes, Black and brown communities, young people and people in rural areas—are disproportionately impacted.

The Oklahoma ban, combined with the Texas ban, will create a vast abortion desert in the region, further devastating the ability of thousands to access abortion care.

The Oklahoma state legislature has passed several other abortion restrictions this year, including a modification to the state’s “trigger” ban and a bill (S.B. 612) that would ban abortion entirely in the state. S.B. 612 was signed into law by the governor on April 12 and would make providing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine. The Center and Planned Parenthood filed a challenge on April 28 in an existing case to S.B. 612 to block the law before it takes effect in August.

The challenge to S.B. 1503 was filed in Oklahoma Supreme Court against the State of Oklahoma and all 77 state court clerks. The plaintiffs – Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, Dr. Alan Braid, Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, and Planned Parenthood of Arkansas & Eastern Oklahoma – are represented by the Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Blake Patton.

Read the ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court here.

Tags: oklahoma, oklahoma abortion ban, Oklahoma Supreme Court, S.B. 1503

Related Posts

Lawsuit Seeks to Block Oklahoma’s New Abortion Bans and Restrictions

Five Oklahoma measures include two abortion bans and severe restrictions on abortion providers and medication abortion. The laws are scheduled...

Abortion, Legal Restrictions,United States,In the Courts
Lawsuit Seeks to Block Oklahoma’s New Abortion Bans and Restrictions

Complaint: Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice et al. v. O’Connor, et al.

This compaint was filed September 2, 2021, in the district court of Oklahoma County in Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice...

Abortion, Legal Restrictions,United States,In the Courts

Oklahoma Supreme Court Order Granting TI

The Oklahoma state Supreme Court blocked three extreme abortion restrictions that were set to take effect November 1. The ruling on October...

Abortion,United States,In the Courts

Sign up for email updates.

The most up-to-date news on reproductive rights, delivered straight to you.

Footer Menu

  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Gift Acceptance Policy
  • Contact Us

Center for Reproductive Rights
© (1992-2024)

Use of this site signifies agreement with our disclaimer and privacy policy.

Better Business Bureau Charity Watch Top Rated Center for Reproductive Rights
This site uses necessary, analytics and social media cookies to improve your experience and deliver targeted advertising. Click "Options" or click here to learn more and customize your cookie settings, otherwise please click "Accept" to proceed.
OPTIONSACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-6619340-11 minuteNo description
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
_parsely_session30 minutesThis cookie is used to track the behavior of a user within the current session.
HotJar: _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjFirstSeen30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
HotJar: _hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjTLDTestsessionNo description
SSCVER1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for online advertising by creating user profile based on their preferences.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
IMRID1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for storing the start and end of the user session for nielsen statistics. It helps in consumer profiling for online advertising.
personalization_id2 yearsThis cookie is set by twitter.com. It is used integrate the sharing features of this social media. It also stores information about how the user uses the website for tracking and targeting.
TDID1 yearThe cookie is set by CloudFare service to store a unique ID to identify a returning users device which then is used for targeted advertising.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
adEdition1 dayNo description
akaas_MSNBC10 daysNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
geoEdition1 dayNo description
next-i18next1 yearNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Scroll Up