Can a woman be sentenced to six years in jail and fined $100,000 for having an abortion in Oklahoma after six weeks?
By Sue Bin Park
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NO
Oklahoma law does not criminalize pregnant women seeking an abortion. Legal penalties are imposed on those performing the procedures, who can be sentenced to up to five years in prison under state law.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court recently struck down a law that would have raised the maximum punishments for performing an abortion in Oklahoma to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison. The law also permitted abortions only in narrowly defined “medical emergencies,” which doctors said forced them to wait until a woman facing pregnancy complications was dangerously ill.
Oklahoma’s 1910 law banning abortions except to “preserve the life” of the mother, which was automatically reinstated after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, remains in effect.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Justia US Law Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice v. Drummond
Oklahoma Attorney General ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION 2023-12
Casetext Okla. Stat. tit. 63 § 1-731.4
Casetext Okla. Stat. tit. 21 § 861
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