The bill would also allow private citizens to bring a civil lawsuit against a person who performs or induces an abortion, intends to perform an abortion, or knowingly aides or abets an abortion such as paying for the procedure. Under the measure, relief would include at least $10,000 in statutory damages for each abortion the defendant performed or aided in violation of the act, legal fees, and compensatory damages.
The bill would prohibit civil action from being brought against certain individuals, including the woman who had the abortion or sought the procedure. The proposal would not allow a person who impregnated a woman through rape, sexual assault or incest to bring a civil action.
The bill would take effect with the governor’s signature.
The Republican-led House Public Health committee on Wednesday passed the bill by a vote of 7-1, with one Democrat opposing the bill. The bill now moves to a vote in the full House.
The state Senate had passed the legislation last month by a vote of 33-11.
The bill is just one of a number of restrictive measures on abortion that the Oklahoma legislature is considering this session, and is one of two bills in Oklahoma that is styled after a controversial Texas law that went into effect in September.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt had previously promised to sign every bill limiting abortion that came across his desk.
Emily Wales, the interim president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, told CNN that the so-called heartbeat bill is “more concerning in many ways” than the near-total ban in part because it models after the Texas law that abortion providers and advocates have struggled to block.
Wales warned that the bills would create a “regional crisis at a level we haven’t seen yet,” and with a shortage of providers, it could push the system to a breaking point.
