A bill classifying abortion as murder was not heard in the Oklahoma legislature ahead of this week’s deadline for bills to advance in their chambers of origin.
House Bill 2545 was just a shell bill up until this week. It was amended Wednesday by Rep. Justin Humphrey, who has referred to pregnant women as "hosts" and has pushed a bill requiring fathers to sign off on abortions.
Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice Board President Danielle Williams said HB2545 as amended was unclear.
"It basically would have made it possible to prosecute for abortion, but it was written in such a vague way that it really wan’t clear whether the intention was to prosecute providers or women," Willams said.
Williams also said she didn't think HB2545 was a genuine attempt to stop abortion in the state.
"I think it was just games, scoring political points, try to put your name on a bill so you can go back to your district and say, ‘Look what I did,’ even though nothing happened at all. At this point, they’re truly just playing games with lives to get credit for it," Williams said.
Had HB2545 advanced and become law, it would have faced legal challenges from reproductive rights groups. OCRJ board member and Roe Fund Vice President Lauren Wilson said it would not have been the first poorly written abortion bill to tie Oklahoma up in court.
"I would like to see some of those resources — you know, time, energy, research — put into the earlier stages of this process … better family planning education, better resources for women," Wilson said.
Oklahoma Republican lawmakers have renewed efforts to restrict abortion this session. They have advanced bills to revoke the licenses of doctors who perform abortions, ban abortions after six weeks and allow wrongful death lawsuits by third parties against doctors.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat said earlier in the session he "shares the goal" of groups trying to outlaw abortion in Oklahoma and supports bills that are not outright bans.
