Conservative legislators have banded together to pass a six-week abortion ban that allows private citizens to take civil action against abortion providers in Oklahoma.
Lawmakers modeled the bill after Texas’ abortion law.
Dubbed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, the bill prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected. A similar bill approved in Texas led to a dramatic reduction in abortions, sending many people seeking the procedure to Oklahoma and surrounding states.https://t.co/FJO5h1c8Rc
— TX Capital Tonight (@TXCapTonight) April 28, 2022
Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) is expected to sign the bill within days. It then goes into effect immediately.
Stitt has said he wants to make Oklahoma “the most pro-life state in the country.”
Planned Parenthood announced that it would challenge Oklahoma in court in response to Thursday’s news.
Oklahoma just passed an unconstitutional abortion ban — and this one is set to take effect immediately when Gov. Stitt signs. But we're fighting back. We are going to court to stop this ban w/ @reprorights. pic.twitter.com/U7NfBDQ17J
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) April 28, 2022
As Axios reports:
S.B. 1503 incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone who “performs or induces” an abortion, anyone who “aids of abets the performance” of an abortion, or anyone who “intends to engage” in the previous actions but has not yet done so.
Citizens would be awarded at least $10,000 “for each abortion that the defendant performed or induced” or that “the defendant aided or abetted” in violation of the bill.
The bill explicitly states that whoever is sued in a case cannot say that they consider the bill to be “unconstitutional” as a defense argument in a court of law.
It says that if a pregnancy was the result of rape, sexual assault or incest, the perpetrator cannot file a lawsuit. Additionally, a lawsuit cannot be brought against someone who transported a pregnant person to an abortion provider if they are unaware of the abortion.
Gov. Stitt also recently signed a bill into law that makes performing an abortion a felony unless the mother’s life is at risk.
The Supreme Court will revisit the constitutional founding of Roe v. Wade before the end of its current term when it rules on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
“If a majority answers yes to allowing Mississippi’s ban at 15 weeks of pregnancy, that undoes Roe,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List told NPR recently.
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