Efforts to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma through over 20 proposed policies failed last session, preserving the state’s current near-total ban. But some lawmakers are looking to pick up where they left off.
Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader (R-Piedmont) is renewing her focus on abortion-inducing drugs. In 2024, a policy she proposed sought to target people who deliver or mail abortion-inducing drugs to mothers. House Bill 3013 died in the opposite chamber.
Crosswhite Hader’s House Bill 1168 is identical to what HB 3013 was when it passed with a vote of 77-18 out of the House. The penalty for what it refers to as “trafficking or attempting to traffic abortion-inducing drugs” is a felony with up to $100,000 in fines, ten years in prison or both.
Sen. David Bullard (R-Durant), who co-authored Crosswhite Hader’s bill in 2024, filed his own policy addressing abortion-inducing drugs. Senate Bill 883 states that no person shall “knowingly or recklessly give, sell, dispense, administer, prescribe, distribute, traffic, or otherwise provide to any other person in this state an abortion-inducing drug to be used for the purpose of inducing an abortion.”
Senate Majority Floor Leader Julie Daniels is proposing Senate Bill 989, which is another measure directed at abortion-inducing drugs titled the “Wrongful Death Protection Act of 2025.”
The senator from Bartlesville’s bill states that any person who “manufactures, mails, distributes, transports, delivers, or provides abortion-inducing drugs, or who aids or abets the manufacture, mailing, distribution, transportation, delivery, or provision of abortion-inducing drugs, shall be strictly, absolutely, and jointly and severally liable for:”
- The wrongful death of any “unborn child” or pregnant woman who dies from the use of abortion-inducing drugs
- For any personal injuries suffered by any unborn child or pregnant woman from the use of abortion-inducing drugs
A person may bring action under this section within six years of the date the cause of action accrues.
Rep. Jim Olsen (R-Roland) also filed House Bill 1008, which would grant protections to fetuses and classify abortion as a felony for providers, with a potential of up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison, or both. Olsen told The Oklahoman HB 1008 reintroduces Senate Bill 612, which was signed into law in 2022 and struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2023.
Finally, Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) is seeking to revive his “Abolition of Abortion Act” from last session. Senate Bill 456 adjusts the definition of homicide to include abortion.
Oklahoma is also considering various bills to support parents. Sen. Casey Murdock (R-Felt) filed Senate Bill 222, which creates the Maternity Care Pilot Program. It would be administered by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which would select one hospital to receive a one-time grant of $5 million to support the addition of labor and delivery services.
Applicants would have to meet certain criteria – like a critical access hospital designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – and the awarded facility can use funds for staffing costs, the acquisition of equipment and supplies, and educational classes related to maternal and infant health.
Murdock told StateImpact last year he wanted to support rural Oklahomans living in maternity care deserts with policy following a visit to Newman Memorial Hospital, a facility in his district. It’s been working to reinstate the hospital’s labor and delivery unit.
Sen. Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City) filed Senate Bill 226, which directs the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to establish a methodology that reimburses hospitals designated as Baby-Friendly by Baby-Friendly USA for obstetrical care at a higher rate. The accrediting body provides these designations to hospitals as a recognition that they offer an “optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother-baby bonding.”
Lawmakers also filed multiple bills addressing paid leave for families. Senate Bill 314 by Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) would extend to higher education workers the same leave privileges as full-time state employees, who currently receive six weeks of paid maternity leave following the birth or adoption of their child. Boren’s bill would also change references in the whole policy from maternity leave to parental leave.
This resurrects an effort from former Sen. Jessica Garvin (R-Duncan) to bring higher education workers into the fold last year, which got through the Senate but stalled in the House.
The Oklahoma Legislature will also consider some additional repeat efforts from last session. One is being brought by Sen. Brenda Stanley (R-Midwest City) to allow providers like nurse practitioners to independently prescribe Schedule III-V drugs, which include things like anabolic steroids, Ambien and Xanax.
Senate Bill 569 would allow advanced practice registered nurses — which include certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse-midwives – who have undergone a minimum of three years of practice with prescriptive authority supervised by a physician to apply to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing for this authority.
Stanley authored a measure to do so last year, except the criteria for application listed a minimum of 6,240 hours of practice under a physician’s supervision. Stanley said during the bill’s hearing on the Senate floor the policy could help combat the state’s physician shortage in rural areas.
It was vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. He said in a news release he doesn’t think these professionals should be allowed to prescribe those drugs without a physician’s supervision.
Sen. Nikki Nice (D-Oklahoma City) also filed a new attempt to provide free menstrual products to students. Senate Bill 219 would require each school district and public charter school in Oklahoma to make them available at no cost in school restrooms designated for use by females and single-occupancy restrooms.
“One in four struggles to afford these products, and when students don’t have access to them, they may miss class. It’s stressful and embarrassing,” Nice said in a press release. “It leads to higher student absenteeism, lower academic performance, and it can even cause some students to drop out. States that have enacted laws providing these products saw improved attendance, and that’s important for our efforts to help Oklahoma students succeed.”
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