Oklahoma Senate Passes Bill That Would Make Abortion a Felony (UPDATE)

UPDATE 05/20/16:

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has vetoed the bill that would have criminalized performing an abortion.

In a press release on Friday Gov. Fallin said: "The bill is so ambiguous and so vague that doctors cannot be certain what medical circumstances would be considered 'necessary to preserve the life of the mother.'" In a veto message of the bill Fallin wrote, "The absence of any definition, analysis or medical standard renders this exception vague, indefinite and vulnerable to subjective interpretation and application."

"While I consistently have and continue to support a re-examination of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, this legislation cannot accomplish that re-examination," Fallin wrote.

See original story below.

Oklahoma has passed a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony. This law would mark the latest attempt in America to make abortion inaccessible. As Trapped, an abortion documentary, pointed out, laws regulating abortion providers have led to more than 50 percent of abortion clinics being shut down in Texas since 2010. Consequently, a study late last year showed 100,000 women in Texas had tried to self-induce an abortion.

As The Cut reported, the bill says a doctor who performs an abortion for reasons other than removing a miscarriage or saving the mother's life would face a felony charge. In addition to facing up to three years in prison for the charge, doctors woudn't be able to get or renew a medical license in Oklahoma. The bill does not allow for exceptions such as rape or incest.

The bill would directly oppose the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that declared women had the fundamental right to choose.

According toThe Cut, executive vice-president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Dawn Laguens addressed the bill in a statement:

The bill now goes on to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, an anti abortion Republican, for approval.