OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma has announced plans to introduce a bill mirroring a Texas law that has become the nation’s biggest curb to abortion in nearly 50 years.


What You Need To Know

  • Oklahoma state Sen. Sean Roberts says he will introduce a bill mirroring Texas' abortion law, which is the most restrictive in the country 

  • Like in Texas, the bill would allow individuals to sue doctors who perform the procedure when not doing so to save the mother's life. Plaintiffs would be able to seek up to $10,000 in damages

  • Oklahoma abortion providers, meanwhile, are seeing an influx of people from Texas seeking abortions 

  • Texas' abortion law has seen legal challenges but remains in effect for now 

State Rep. Sean Roberts said his bill would allow any individual in Oklahoma to sue doctors who perform an abortion that is not to save the mother’s life. Plaintiffs would be able to seek up to $10,000 in damages in civil court against abortion providers or anyone who “aids and abets” such an abortion.

“When it comes to fighting for the lives of the unborn, we must be willing to do whatever it takes,” said Roberts, R-Hominy.

Abortion providers in Oklahoma and other surrounding states have said they’ve seen an influx of women from Texas seeking abortions, some driving hours through the middle of the night and including patients as young as 12 years old.

Oklahoma routinely passes some of the strictest anti-abortion measures in the country, and Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he would sign any anti-abortion bill the Legislature sends him.