Case: Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice v. O'Connor

On July 1, 2022, abortion providers filed this case directly with the Supreme Court of Oklahoma as a challenge to two abortion bans. This case was officially brought by Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic, an M.D., Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, and Planned Parenthood of Arkansas & Eastern Oklahoma against the State of Oklahoma. The Plaintiffs asked the Court to assume original jurisdiction and declare Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 861 (the 1910 Ban) and S.B. 612 (the 2022 Ban) unconstitutional under the Oklahoma Constitution. Plaintiffs also asked the Court to permanently bar the State of Oklahoma (the State) from enforcing the 1910 and 2022 bans.

The 1910 Ban is a criminal ban on abortion with a limited exception to “preserve” a person’s “life.” The 1910 Ban was deemed unconstitutional in 1973, shortly after the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Since then, the 1910 Ban had not been enforced in Oklahoma. Upon the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Dobbs, the Oklahoma Attorney General reinstated the pre-Roe ban. 

In 2021, the State enacted a trigger law with the intention of permitting the revival of the 1910 Ban upon the overturning of Roe. The State also passed the 2022 Ban, which took effect on August 27, 2022. The 2022 Ban makes providing any abortion a felony but contains different penalties and different exceptions from the 1910 Ban. Most notably, whereas the 1910 ban allowed for abortions to preserve life, the 2022 Ban allowed for abortions in cases of "medical emergency." The 2022 Ban enables physicians who provide abortions to face up to ten years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000. 

The Oklahoma legislature enacted other laws seeking to prohibit and/or restrict abortions entirely in Oklahoma and these laws were also challenged before the Supreme Court of Oklahoma in Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice v. O’Connor, No. 120376. 

In their complaint, Plaintiffs also called for temporary injunctive relief, claiming it was warranted because Plaintiffs, and those whose interests they represented, would suffer irreparable injury if the 1910 Ban and 2022 Ban remained in effect. On September 12, 2022, the Court summarily denied the emergency motion for an immediate temporary restraining order and/or temporary injunction, without providing a rationale. 

On November 1, 2022 the case was officially assigned to the Supreme Court for the State of Oklahoma. A few months later, on March 21, 2023 the Supreme Court for the State of Oklahoma issued its ruling, deciding that the state constitution protects the right to abortion in life-threatening situations, but declining to answer whether the state constitution protects a broader right to abortion outside of those circumstances. The ruling struck down the 2022 ban under a strict scrutiny review, saying it violated Oklahomans' rights to access abortion care in life-threatening situations, but upheld the 1910 ban. The distinguishing factor between the two bans was the court's conclusion that the preservation of life exception was broader than the medical emergency exception.