Sen. Dahm releases statement regarding Court incompetence

Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, released the following statement after the Oklahoma Supreme Court declared 63 O.S. § 1-731.4, or Senate Bill 612, unconstitutional.

“Today five justices on the Supreme Court of Oklahoma created a limited right to abortion out of whole cloth. In a facetious exercise referencing the Dobbs decision, the majority ‘found’ that a right to abortion is ‘deeply rooted in the history and traditions’ of our state. In the process, they rendered Senate Bill 612 void and unenforceable.

“The Court prefers the language ‘preserve the life of’ to the language ‘save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.’ To accomplish this language change, they created a new ‘right’ to an abortion. Regardless of the political preferences of the justices, determining the semantics of any exception is a policy decision that lies with the Legislature, not the courts. This is gross judicial overreach.

“The people of Oklahoma deserve better than this arbitrary and capricious legislating from the bench. The sheer incompetence on display by this court is astounding.”

Senate Bill 612 passed the Senate and House of Representatives and was signed by Governor Stitt in 2022. It prohibited abortion in the state of Oklahoma except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency. SB 612 defined medical emergency as a condition which cannot be remedied by delivery and is necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness or physical injury including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.

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For more information, contact: Sen. Nathan Dahm at 405-521-5551 or email Nathan.Dahm@oksenate.gov.