Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP)

Oklahoma prohibits certain qualified health care professionals from performing abortions, and has an unconstitutional and unenforceable law that subjects abortion providers to burdensome restrictions not applied to other medical professionals.

Restrictions on Where Abortions May Be Performed

Among the most common TRAP regulations are those restricting the performance of abortions to hospitals or other specialized facilities, which require doctors to obtain medically unnecessary additional licenses, needlessly convert their practices to mini-hospitals at great expense, or perform abortions only in hospitals, an impossibility in many parts of the country.

Oklahoma has an unconstitutional requirement that all abortions after the first trimester be performed in a "general hospital." Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 63, § 1-731(B) (Enacted 1978).

A federal court enjoined this requirement, stating that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Akron v. Akron Ctr. for Reprod. Health, 462 U.S. 416 (1983), rendered it unconstitutional. Reprod. Servs. v. Keating, 35 F. Supp.2d 1332 (N.D. Okla. 1998).

Restrictions on Who May Perform Abortions

Oklahoma prohibits certain qualified health care professionals from performing abortions.

Only a physician licensed to practice medicine in the state may perform an abortion. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 63, § 1-731 (Enacted 1978; Last Amended 1999); § 1-729 (Enacted 2008).

No woman may induce an abortion upon herself except under the supervision of a physician licensed to practice medicine in the state. Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 63, § 1-733 (Enacted 1978; Last Amended 1997).