Oklahoma House Republicans have passed HB 3013, a measure that could make delivering or possessing chemical abortion pills a felony in the state. Upon conviction, offenders would face up to 10 years in prison or fines of up to $100,000.
"What people pointed out once our abortion clinics closed in our state was that the mail order medical was exploding," accounts Representative Jim Olsen (R), who helped carry the bill. "So, I saw the need to attempt to do something concerning that."
Abortion pill trafficking violates the state's existing pro-life laws, which ban abortion except under limited circumstances. Representative Denise Crosswhite Hader (R) says she supports the measure because of health concerns.
"These pills are dangerous to take under the best of circumstances, knowing what they're designed to do, and what I saw and continue to hear about is women getting them black market, bootlegged and being dangerous," she relays. "The opportunity of those women to die themselves or to lose the opportunity to have another child … I really presented it on the floor as continuing to help the health of the women that we have here now."
Even so, the federal government continues to push the Biden administration's extreme abortion policies and will not even try to enforce existing federal law against abortion pill trafficking.
Oklahoma's bill does not apply to pharmacists, manufacturers, or distributors of drugs or surgical supplies who lawfully manufacture, possess, offer, sell, or distribute, in the usual course of that entity's business or profession, any drug, medicine, or instrument intended for any lawful medical purpose.
The act is now heading to the state Senate for action.
