A bill that would grant protections to fetuses and classify abortion as a felony for providers passed out of the Oklahoma House Public Health Committee Monday with a vote of 5-1.
House Bill 1008, by Rep. Jim Olsen (R-Roland), includes a potential of up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison, or both. He said HB 1008 reintroduces Senate Bill 612, which was signed into law in 2022 and struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2023.
SB 612 allowed abortions in cases where they were necessary to “save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”
The court determined “the Oklahoma Constitution protects the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy in order to preserve her life.” Olsen said HB 1008 accommodates the language to the preference of the court.
HB 1008 deletes the definition of “medical emergency” in SB 612 and changes the language to prohibit people from purposely performing or attempting to perform an abortion “unless necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman.”
“The person performing or attempting to perform an abortion shall prioritize preserving both the life of the pregnant woman and the life of the baby,” the bill reads. “If however, the person judges the birth of the baby to be a threat to the life of the pregnant woman, then an abortion may be performed to preserve the life of the pregnant woman.”
Olsen said he consulted with medical professionals, including the OB-GYN community. Rep. Ellen Pogemiller (D-Oklahoma City) asked how a provider is supposed to consider this legislation.
“I’m thinking it could be confusing when a doctor's in an emergency situation to determine if the woman's health or the child's health is in more harm,” Pogemiller said. “Do you think it could be confusing for a doctor?”
Olsen said he doesn’t think it would be confusing. He said he’s confident medical personnel have the capabilities and qualifications to make determinations.
Rep. Kevin West (R-Moore) argued that HB 1008’s language might make things clearer for providers.
“Not only is it a little bit broader, but it also, to me, seems to even more involve the pregnant woman in this decision,” West said. “If there's a condition that is found and the doctor says ‘This could be life-threatening,’ then the pregnant woman would have the opportunity to say, ‘OK, let's go ahead and do this’ or ‘Let's wait and see’ and maybe come in for extra visits to monitor.”
Rep. Cynthia Roe (R-Lindsay) also asked if treating someone with a tubal pregnancy before the point of a rupture would be covered by this bill. A tubal pregnancy occurs when the fertilized egg attaches itself somewhere outside the uterus, like the inside of a fallopian tube.
It can ultimately cause a fallopian tube to burst open, and without treatment, a ruptured tube can lead to life-threatening bleeding. Olsen said treatment before it ruptures would be covered under “to preserve the life of the mother.”
Pogemiller said some providers see policies like HB 1008 as limiting their scope of medicine. A 2023 survey conducted by members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – which included over 200 OB-GYNs in Oklahoma – found that 79% of doctors feel unable to practice according to best practices and evidence-based medicine.
Seventy-five percent also cited “fear of repercussions” as a barrier to providing appropriate care.
“This piece of legislation limits the scope of health care that we can provide to women in desperate situations when their health is at risk,” Pogemiller said. “We also want health care professionals to stay in this state to provide a million other services, such as serving women with cervical and ovarian cancers and helping for future healthy pregnancies. Our maternal mortality rate remains significantly above the national average. If we actually want to help pregnant women, we should focus our efforts on prenatal and postnatal care.”
Olsen said his policy concerns “an equal rights issue.”
“We're certainly in favor of maternal health care. That's a good thing and right thing and a proper thing. And so we're in favor of anything that gives life. Our caution comes when we do something that kills a baby,” Olsen said. “Now we do recognize that there are, again, situations where a baby has to be delivered early, and sometimes when that happens, the baby won't make it. But that is entirely different than deliberately terminating the life of the baby. That is only rarely necessary to deliberately take the life of the baby.
… We want to consider the life of the mother. We want to consider that the baby has a right to life.”
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