Oklahoma clinic will shut down if Supreme Court overturns abortion

The Tulsa Women’s Clinic, one of four abortion providers in Oklahoma, might have to shut down completely as soon as this summer if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade as expected later this year.

A leaked draft opinion from the high court last week showed that the conservative majority is prepared to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. If the court follows through with the draft opinion, it would cause a schism between states where abortion remains legal and those where it is banned, leaving millions of women with little or no access to abortion.

Oklahoma is one of 26 states that plans to ban all abortions if Roe is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that supports abortion rights.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation in April that makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a $100,000 fine. The law makes an exception for medical emergencies where the mother’s life is in danger but not for cases of rape or incest. The abortion ban goes into effect in August, after the Supreme Court’s current term ends and a ruling on Roe would have presumably been made.

“It would mean no abortion, so it means no clinic,” said Andrea Gallegos, executive administrator at the Tulsa Women’s Clinic. “We would not be able to continue to offer the service that we provide,” Gallegos said.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said overturning Roe would further cement inequality in the U.S. health-care system, primarily punishing lower-income women, including minority communities that already struggle to access quality health care. People with financial means who live in states where abortion faces a total ban will be able to travel to other states where the procedure remains legal, Benjamin said.

“Well-to-do women will not have this as a significant barrier. Lower-income women will,” he said.

Some women who need an abortion are already forced to cross state lines even with Roe in place. When Texas passed a law last year banning most abortions, patients began to flee to clinics in neighboring Oklahoma to receive care. The Tulsa Women’s Clinic saw its patients nearly triple as its sister facility in San Antonio, Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services, started referring patients there, according to Gallegos.

“We became a safe haven for Texas patients who were having to flee the state to seek care,” Gallegos said.

Oklahoma, however, is no longer a safe haven. The governor signed a law last week implementing the same restrictions as Texas. Abortions are now illegal after a heartbeat is detected in the embryo on an ultrasound, which occurs as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. The law, called the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,…