Team—

Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed separate challenges to block two extreme and unconstitutional abortion bans that passed during the 2022 state legislative session in Oklahoma.

The first, a Texas-style ban on abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, would become effective immediately upon Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature. The second ban would make providing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine.

Oklahoma has become the second state, after Idaho, to follow Texas in attempting to cut patients off from abortion care at the earliest stages of pregnancy while Roe v. Wade still stands.

These bans join a long list of devastating attacks on abortion access. They cannot be allowed to stand, and we need your help as we continue to defend access to reproductive health care for everyone.

We have no time to waste. Make a gift today and have it matched 3:1 so we can protect abortion access in Oklahoma and around the world.

The impact of these bans will fall hardest on people who already face tremendous barriers to health care in Oklahoma, including Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, people who live in rural areas, and people who are struggling to make ends meet.

These bans would also decimate abortion access for the surrounding region. Since Texas's S.B. 8 took effect, Oklahoma clinics have reported huge upticks in Texas patients, resulting in weeks-long wait times. Planned Parenthood released data in February showing that, in the first four months after S.B. 8 took effect, more than half of the patients at their Oklahoma health centers were from Texas, compared to less than 10% in the prior year.

Today we're proud to fight alongside a coalition of Oklahoma abortion providers and advocates, as well as Planned Parenthood, to prevent these bans from taking effect. Historically, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has repeatedly found the legislature's extreme attempts to restrict abortion unconstitutional, and it is our hope that the state courts will uphold the State Constitution and apply Oklahoma precedent to block these bans before they take effect.

Our reproductive rights are at risk, and we need you with us. Give $35 or more today and have it matched 3:1, up to $50,000.

Onward,

Rabia Muqaddam
Senior Staff Attorney, U.S. Litigation