Name-calling in Oklahoma
Even if it doesn’t result in a case that upends abortion law, heavily Republican legislatures like Oklahoma’s want to be ready.
“If Roe v. Wade ever gets overturned, we won’t be prepared,” Republican Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat said while explaining his so-called trigger bill at a committee hearing in February.
Treat’s legislation, modeled after existing laws in a handful of states, would “trigger” a state ban on abortion and make it a felony if Roe were overturned. A handful of states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota, already have trigger laws on the books.
Oklahoma has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, such as mandatory counseling and a 72-hour waiting period. But the most conservative antiabortion activists in the state want more immediate action. So they targeted Sen. Treat and other self-described “prolife” Republicans with protests, billboards and flyers, accusing them of not being antiabortion enough.
“I’ve been called every name in the book these past few weeks,” Sen. Treat said. “I’ve had my Christianity questioned. I’ve had a member of my own caucus hold a press conference and call me a hypocrite.”
In response, Sen. Treat abandoned the trigger bill.
Now he’s trying something else – an amendment to the state constitution that would reinforce that nothing in Oklahoma law “secures or protects” the right to abortion. But that’s still not antiabortion enough for some.
“It’s going to add on to that legacy that we have of death and just status quo prolife policy that does nothing,” said Republican state Sen. Joseph Silk.
Not far enough in Georgia
In Georgia, a “heartbeat bill” passed the legislature, but has paused at Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. Supporters of abortion rights don’t want him to sign it, of course, but some antiabortion activists aren’t happy either.
“It really just does not go far enough in the protection of innocent human life,” said Georgia Right to Life executive director Zemmie Fleck, who argued that certain exceptions in his state’s bill – for abortions after rape or incest if the woman makes a police report – weaken it.
Gov. Kemp has until May 12 to sign or veto the measure.
Cost-as-no-objection Kentucky
The American Civil Liberties Union in Kentucky sued the day after a “heartbeat bill” was signed into law by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. But even during his annual speech to the Kentucky legislature in February, Gov. Bevin acknowledged his intent to challenge Roe v. Wade.
“Some of these will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But at the end of the day, we will prevail because we stand on the side of right and we stand on the side of life,” he said.
Kentucky has become accustomed to defending abortion restrictions in court. Currently, one law that makes it a felony for a doctor to perform a common abortion in the second trimester has been suspended indefinitely.
It is unclear how much it costs Kentucky to defend abortion laws that are immediately challenged. In an emailed statement, Gov. Bevin administration spokesman Woody Maglinger wrote that the state is using in-house lawyers, and hasn’t hired outside counsel. He declined to provide a cost estimate on hours spent on these cases.
“It is impossible to place a price tag on human lives,” Mr. Maglinger wrote.
This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR, and Kaiser Health News. Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.