Oklahoma’s highest court ruled on Tuesday that the state constitution protects the right to abortion to save the mother’s life, and that a doctor does not have to wait until there is a medical emergency to perform an abortion, Reuters reported.

In a 5-4 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court found that a law passed last year that allows life-saving abortions only in “medical emergencies” violates the state’s “inalienable right to life.”

The court did not overturn a separate 1910 abortion ban that provides an exception to save the life of the mother that does not require emergency medical care. It also did not address whether the state constitution included a right to abortion under any other circumstances.

Oklahoma began enforcing both laws after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe vs. Wade in 1973, which guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers filed lawsuits to challenge the laws.

“While we are relieved that Oklahomans facing life-threatening situations have the right to care, the decision to uphold the state’s pre-Roe ban is unconscionable,” said Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement: “We respect the court’s decision and are pleased that the judges recognized an exception for cases where the mother’s life is in danger.”

Tuesday’s decision comes amid widespread uncertainty in states that ban abortions about when doctors can perform the procedure if it is necessary to save the life or health of the mother.

Some women were forced to wait until they were in imminent danger before having an abortion, even though doctors had predicted the risk much earlier.

The majority in Oklahoma found that a physician may perform an abortion after determining with “a reasonable degree of medical certainty or probability” that the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, and that “absolute certainty” is not required.

“We know of no other law that requires waiting until an actual medical emergency to obtain treatment when a harmful condition is known or likely to occur in the future,” they wrote in an unsigned opinion.

“Requiring someone to wait until a medical emergency arrives would further endanger the life of a pregnant woman and is not in a compelling public interest,” they said.

Four justices appointed by Republican governors dissented, saying the majority failed to consider the interests of unborn children and went beyond the text of the Constitution. The Republican appointee joined four Democratic judges.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, 12 of the 50 states, including Oklahoma, now ban abortions entirely, and many others ban them after a certain period of pregnancy. (photo: Dreamstime)

Literature:

• Stories of women who were on the brink of life because they were denied an abortion
• “Plan C”: An underground network of access to abortion pills
• The first American state to ban medical abortion