Oklahoma Supreme Court rules partial ‘right to abortion’ enshrined in state constitution
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that a “partial right to abortion” is preserved in its state constitution in cases where the mother’s life is at stake. This decision came in a case supported by abortion providers and reproductive rights groups, which challenged state laws passed after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court last year. The US Supreme Court had passed the matter of abortion back to individual states to decide.
The state’s high court invalidated a law that allowed abortions only if the mother’s life was already endangered due to a medical emergency. In a 5-4 ruling, the majority opinion, comprised of Justices Yvonne Kauger, James R. Winchester, James E. Edmondson, Douglas L. Combs, and Noma Gurich, argued that a woman has a right to an abortion to save her life, citing the constitutional provision stating that “All persons have the inherent right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry.”
The justices also specified the conditions under which the life of the mother would be in danger: if the woman’s doctor, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty or probability, considers that continuing the pregnancy could endanger her life either due to pregnancy complications or any existing medical condition. The majority’s ruling emphasized that absolute certainty of her death is not required but that the danger must be more than a mere possibility or speculation.
Disagreeing with their colleagues, dissenting Justices John Kane IV, Dustin P. Rowe, Richard Darby, and Dana Kuehn argued that there is no law in the state constitution specifically pertaining to the issue of abortion. Chief Justice Kane added that the court should “guard against the innate human temptation to confuse what is provided in the Oklahoma Constitution with what one wishes were provided.”
The decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court demonstrates how deeply divisive this issue remains in the United States.
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