Two Oklahoma mothers are challenging state abortion laws in a new lawsuit filed Wednesday. The women are suing state leaders after they were denied access to an abortion for their effectively nonviable pregnancies and forced to seek care outside of the state.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, challenges two state abortion bans. Oklahoma’s abortion laws are some of the strictest in the nation. The state’s only exception is to preserve the life of the mother.
Currently, this doesn’t include fatal fetal conditions, where a pregnancy is likely to end in miscarriage or stillbirth or, in the event of live birth, the infant will not survive with or without medical support. The lawsuit — which also includes two OB-GYNs and the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice — argues these bans violate pregnant Oklahomans’ rights to life and liberty, substantive due process and equal protection.
The lawsuit states that, in a March 2023 ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court recognized Oklahomans’ right to life-preserving abortions. Plaintiffs are seeking the same constitutional protections by asking the court to prevent these abortion bans from applying to pregnant Oklahomans who have received a fatal fetal diagnosis.
“What we are fighting for is Oklahomans’ ability to get to decide in those situations what is best for themselves and for their families,” said Caroline Sacerdote, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “And, when they decide that what is the best for themself is to terminate the pregnancy, they should be able to get that care in their communities.”
Some of these conditions are fairly common. Trisomy 18, where the fetus has an additional copy of a chromosome, occurs in one of every 2,500 pregnancies, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Studies estimate that anencephaly, where a fetus’s brain and skull do not develop as expected, happens in one in 1,000 pregnancies.
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The lawsuit’s defendants include Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Keith Reed, Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision Sandra Harrison, and Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners Steven Mullins.
The Center for Reproductive Rights has filed several lawsuits challenging medical emergency exceptions under state abortion bans in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee. The Texas Supreme Court did not clarify exceptions, an Idaho state court ruling broadened the medical exception for patients, and the Tennessee case is still being litigated.
Sacerdote said, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the center has used such lawsuits to show “that abortion bans are incredibly cruel” and that even when exceptions exist, they “do not work in practice.”
“We really are seeking recognition here that people have basic rights in the Oklahoma Constitution,” Sacerdote said. “We know that the state is trying to insert itself between patients and their doctors, and we know that doesn’t work. So we are fighting to make people’s rights a reality on the ground.”
I skipped the plaintiffs’ stories in the excerpt, but I encourage you to go read the whole thing to get them. We were blessed with two trouble-free pregnancies, and reading all of these harrowing accounts of fatalities and near-misses is a stark reminder of how lucky we were and how much every woman deserves better. I don’t know what the odds of success are, and I probably won’t be following this closely, but I will very much be rooting for them.