It is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It has no rape or incest exceptions, only an exception to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency. It is going to have a significant impact on abortion access in Oklahoma.
But it will also create a ripple effect for abortion access elsewhere. Texas previously restricted abortion access last year. As a result of that ban, many women travelled outside Texas to obtain an abortion. Nearly half of the out of state abortions were obtained in Oklahoma.
That surge in abortions in Oklahoma forced many women in Oklahoma to have to travel to neighboring states themselves to obtain abortions. We'll likely see more ripples in adjacent states. And unfortunately many women will lose out on access entirely, being unable to afford the costs and time to travel to an abortion provider.
The Texas ban also doubled the percentage of women obtaining abortions in the second trimester or later due to access delays. So we will likely see later term abortions result from this new Oklahoma ban.
Abortion pill by mail websites are going to become more essential as abortion access keeps getting restricted: https://aidaccess.org/en/i-need-an-abortion