The Oklahoma Legislature has approved another Republican-led bill banning abortions after just six weeks of pregnancy. The measure now goes to Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it. The bill is modeled on Texas’s anti-abortion law that took effect in September. It allows any state resident to sue doctors who perform abortions or anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion — with rewards of at least $10,000 for those who are successful. This comes less than two weeks after Governor Stitt signed into law a total ban on abortion in Oklahoma that makes the procedure a felony punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Oklahoma state Senator Carri Hicks was among minority Democrats who objected to the legislation.
Sen. Carri Hicks: “Forbes ranks Oklahoma number 51 out of 50 states for quality of life for women. We don’t have any further to fall, and yet we are trying to prove how much worse we can make things for women through these types of legislation.”