abortion in oklahoma abortion in oklahoma abortion in oklahoma is illegal unless the abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. oklahoma banned abortion in 1910 and it remained banned until the united states' supreme court 1973 decision roe v. wade. oklahoma became the first state in the united states to institute a ban on abortion from fertilisation post-roe v. wade in may 2022, the month before the u.s. supreme court overturned the case in dobbs v. jackson women's health organization. in march 2023, the oklahoma supreme court found the oklahoma constitution's provisions guaranteeing due process and a right to life guaranteed a limited right to an abortion when there is reasonable certainty pregnancy threatens a woman's life. history history of access to legal abortion oklahoma passed a law in 1910 that made "anyone who caused a woman to miscarry her baby guilty of a felony." the us supreme court's decision in 1973's roe v. wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. the state passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions after 22 weeks because legislators alleged that a fetus could feel pain. the state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement. the law required that materials be created by the oklahoma state department of health. the informed consent materials were required by statute to be given to women and used graphic and inflammatory language. the law also required the woman to be told how far advanced her pregnancy was. oklahoma law required that women seeking abortions after 20 weeks be verbally informed that the fetus may feel pain during the abortion procedure, despite a journal of the american medical association conclusion that pain sensors do not develop in the fetus until between weeks 23 and 30. informed consent materials about fetal pain at 20 weeks stated "the unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain." in contrast, the journal of the american medical association has concluded that pain sensors do not develop in the fetus until 23-30 weeks. a 2009 oklahoma law, overturned by a federal court in 2010, would have required doctors to report information from a 37-question form about every woman receiving an abortion to the state health department for publication in an online registry. a lawyer for the center for reproductive rights, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the law, said the law would have made public potentially identifying details about women, and was intended to dissuade women from seeking abortions. todd lamb, who sponsored the law as a state senator, called it "essential in protecting the sanctity of life" and "pro-life". a fetal heartbeat bill (sb 1274) was signed into law by then-oklahoma governor mary fallin in april 2012 that required an abortion provider to offer a woman the opportunity to hear the conceptus's heartbeat before ending the pregnancy and applied when the conceptus was at least eight weeks old. the bill took effect in november 2012. in 2013, the targeted regulation of abortion providers (trap) law applied to medication-induced abortions in addition to abortion clinics. on november 4, 2013, the u.s. supreme court declined to hear an appeal by the state of oklahoma to the overturning, on constitutional grounds, of a bill intended to ban the practice of terminations of early pregnancies via medication. in 2016, oklahoma state legislators passed a bill to criminalize abortion for providers, potentially charging them with up to three years in prison. on may 20, 2016, governor mary fallin vetoed the bill before it could become law, citing its wording as too vague to withstand a legal challenge. the state legislature was one of four states nationwide that tried, and failed, to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill in 2016. in 2017, the state was one of six where the legislature introduced a bill that would have banned abortion in almost all cases. it did not pass. they were also one of eight states trying to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill that year. the state legislature tried and failed to ban abortion again in 2018. they also tried and failed to pass a "fetal heartbeat" bill that year. in mid-may 2019, state law banned abortion after week 22. in march 2020, governor kevin stitt signed an executive order to limit elective medical procedures, later confirming that all types of abortion services were included, except for those necessary in a medical emergency or to "prevent serious health risks" to the pregnant woman. on april 6, federal judge charles barnes goodwin blocked the executive order, ruling that the state "acted in an 'unreasonable,' 'arbitrary,' and 'oppressive' way," which "imposed an 'undue' burden on abortion access" in oklahoma. oklahoma's abortion ban took effect on may 25, 2022, when governor kevin stitt signed hb 4327 into law, and abortion providers ceased offering services in oklahoma as of that date. hb 4327 is modeled after the texas heartbeat act and is enforced solely through civil lawsuits brought by private citizens, making it exceedingly difficult for abortion providers to challenge the constitutionality of the statute in court. the usage of the term fetal heartbeat in this type of bill is contentious, with medical professionals positing that the terminology is inaccurate. this is because at the proposed time, (as early as 6 weeks) the conceptus is not yet considered a fetus, and is actually an embryo. additionally, there is no heart present in the embryo, it would more accurately be called a cluster of cells with electrical activity. oklahoma was the first state to successfully ban abortion from the moment of fertilization post-roe v. wade. the supreme court overturned roe v. wade in dobbs v. jackson women's health organization no. 19-1392, 597 u.s. ___ (2022) in june 2022. in march 2023, a 5-4 majority of the oklahoma supreme court found that the oklahoma constitution guarantee of a right to life included a "limited right" to life-saving abortions when there is "reasonable" certainty pregnancy threatens a person's life and that the oklahoma legislature's requirement of an "imminent medical emergency" violated that right. the court declined to comment on the constitutionality of bans on elective abortions. history of clinics number of abortion clinics in oklahoma by year