Oklahoma Constitution Assures Limited Abortion Right, Court Says

A split Oklahoma Supreme Court declared Tuesday that the state’s constitution protects a right to abortion “at any point in the pregnancy,” but only in limited circumstances when continuing a pregnancy would threaten the mother’s life.

The decision involves a 1910 criminal abortion provision that was revived when the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The pre-Roe Oklahoma law prohibited abortion except when necessary to save the mother’s life—meaning that Oklahoma’s history and tradition have long recognized a woman’s right to end a pregnancy when her life is in danger, ...