Oklahoma: From Safe Haven to Reproductive Rights Battleground

The state that once welcomed people from Texas seeking abortions is now one of many Republican-controlled states to pass anti-abortion legislation.

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When Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed SB 612 into law on April 12, effectively banning all abortions in the state, Tashia Lee wrote “Keep Theology out of My Biology” on a poster and made the drive from her home in Norman, Oklahoma, to the state capitol in Oklahoma City. 

The bill, which creates a near-total ban on abortion, will take effect in late August and penalize anyone convicted of performing an abortion with up to ten years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The law makes an exception only for abortions performed during medical emergencies for the parent, and follows similar legislation recently passed in states including Kentucky, Florida, Idaho, Alabama, and Texas. 

“Most of these [people] here weren’t even around [in 1973] for Roe v. Wade. They’ve had freedom their whole lives to make decisions for themselves. And all of a sudden, it’s going backward.”

Andrea Gallegos, executive manager of the Tulsa Women’s Clinic and Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services in San Antonio, Texas, had just made the drive south to her Texas location when she heard that SB 612 would be signed by Stitt. “I was in disbelief and shock. To deny access to safe abortion is denying access to health care,” she says.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade this year. If this happens, at least thirteen states with “trigger laws” in place—Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and Missouri—would immediately ban abortion. Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, and Montana, according to a Guttmacher Institute policy analysis, would likely follow suit. And states where restrictive abortion laws were previously passed, but later blocked by federal courts—including Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and Iowa—would likely move to reinstate these laws. 

For Oklahomans who are proclaiming SB 612 unconstitutional, all eyes are on Mississippi, where in June the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a state law that makes abortions illegal after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. If that law is allowed to stand, it would set a precedent for most other anti-abortion laws, including Oklahoma’s. 

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court elected not to block Texas’s “Heartbeat Bill,” which went into effect in September 2021 and bans all abortions after six weeks. 

“In August, we had about 250 patients total in Tulsa, and twenty-eight of them were from Texas,” Gallegos says. “The following months, the average number of patients from Texas alone has been 300.” 

The signing of SB 612 means that people living in Oklahoma and Texas will have to travel even further to states such as Colorado or New Mexico to obtain an abortion.  

Tashia Lee sat completely alone on the steps of Oklahoma’s state capitol building for two days to protest the state’s abortion ban. Zel, a volunteer medic who offers their services at demonstrations and protests across Oklahoma City, counts themself among an “exhausted, small number of people who put their efforts, money, and time into organizing and being out here.”

Violent and intimidating backlash at protests makes organizing difficult, says Zel, who asked that their last name not be used for their safety. “But showing up matters,” they say. “And people keep coming back out.”

On April 14, Lee was joined at the capitol by close to two dozen citizens, activists, and volunteer medical personnel who shared her concerns. “[People] deserve the right to choose, and it has been ripped from us,” says Hailey Sopher, who organized the demonstration on Facebook. “Most people walking into the capitol have been supportive of us, which shocks me, because the law still got passed. But at least there are people who are fighting with us.”

“Most of these [people] here weren’t even around [in 1973] for Roe v. Wade,” says Kim Hughes, an Oklahoma business owner. “They’ve had freedom their whole lives to make decisions for themselves. And all of a sudden, it’s going backward.”

Hughes says many people in her community are hesitant to participate in protests or speak out, even on social media, for fear of how others might view or choose to intimidate them. Compounding this fear is SB 1503, the “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,” which allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who performs an abortion, intends to perform an abortion, or knowingly aids or abets the procedure. If signed into law, it would take effect immediately.

“We’re checking every day to see if it’s on the schedule to be voted on,” Gallegos says. “[People] who have to leave their home state for an abortion are medical refugees, and that is very powerful and very accurate. We’re forcing our citizens to seek refuge because of these vigilante laws.”