Oklahoma Lawmakers Ask Supreme Court To Overturn Roe V. Wade

A majority of Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation signed a letter to the Supreme Court calling for Justices to overturn the United States’ landmark case legalizing abortion.

Both Senators Jim Inhofe (R) and James Lankford (R), Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK4), Kevin Hern (R-OK1) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK2) all signed the amicus brief calling for the high court to strike down Roe v. Wade. Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK3) and Kendra Horn (D-OK5) were not listed in the brief.

The case itself centers around a Louisiana abortion provider at odds with a Louisiana law requiring admitting privileges, which if implemented would close all abortion clinics in the gulf state. The law was initially blocked in federal court before the Fifth circuit court of appeals lifted the block. The Supreme Court later reinstated the injunction.

In the brief, the 207 lawmakers say the confusion in the case should lead Justices to reconsider and overturn Roe.

“[T]he Fifth Circuit’s struggle to define the appropriate “large fraction” or determine what “burden” on abortion access is “undue” illustrates the unworkability of the “right to abortion” found in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) and the need for the Court to again take up the issue of whether Roe and Casey should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled,” the signers wrote in the brief.

Thirty-nine Senators signed onto the brief, all of them Republicans. A total of 168 Representatives signed the brief; only two were Democrats.