New Petition Seeks To Create State Question On Abortion Rights In Oklahoma

Some people want citizens in Oklahoma to have the final say when it comes to abortion rights in the state.

They have filed documents with the Oklahoma Secretary of State in hopes of getting a state question on an upcoming ballot, guaranteeing the right to an abortion.

They want to get State Question 828 on the ballot in time for the special election on March 7, but there are many steps they need to go through first.

In Oklahoma, it's a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion in almost all cases.

"If this gets on the ballot, and if Oklahomans vote in favor of it, basically abortion would be completely legal in Oklahoma up until the point of fetal viability. After that, only in the case to save the life or the health of the mother," said David Blatt.

David Blatt is a political analyst; he said the petition filing is only the beginning of the process.

The Secretary of State will pick a date when the group can start collecting signatures.

"Once that date is set, from the beginning of the process, the signature gatherers will have 90 days to collect something in the neighborhood of 180 thousand signatures from registered voters," said Blatt.

That number is a threshold set at 15 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the most recent election. Then, those signatures will be reviewed and verified, which takes some time. This could mean the question doesn't get on the March ballot.

"If it doesn't make it on to the March ballot, it would be at the time of the next general election which could be sometime in 2024. Or the governor would have to declare another special election," said Blatt.

The petition for a state question is similar to how other states have gotten around restrictive abortion laws.

"About a half dozen state questions on the ballot in the country the last several months, and in every state the supporters of the right to abortion have been successful," said Blatt.

Blatt also said if it gets on the ballot and passes, it would become a part of the state constitution and the legislature couldn't change it.

"All that could be done would be to refer another state question to modify it, but it would take a vote of the people as opposed to a simple vote of the legislature," said Blatt.

Now that the secretary of state has the paperwork, they have to set a date for the group to start collecting signatures within the next couple of months.