Mothers, reproductive rights group sues Oklahoma officials over abortion ban

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two Oklahoma mothers, who said they were forced to leave the state in order to terminate unviable pregnancies, sued state leaders Wednesday, challenging the limits of the state’s abortion ban.

Magon Hoffman and Sheena Hamlin each had to spend thousands of dollars to leave the state to receive abortion care after prenatal testing determined their pregnancies were unviable or had fatal diagnoses, according to the lawsuit filed in Oklahoma County District Court. Medical professionals warned both women that their pregnancies would result in either stillbirth or an agonizing death for their wanted children shortly after birth, the lawsuit states. 

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit on the mothers’ behalf against Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna, Commissioner of the State Health Department Keith Reed, Executive Director of the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision Sandra Harrison, and Executive Director of the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners Steven Mullins.

Their lawsuit argues that Oklahoma’s abortion bans violate pregnant women’s right to “life and liberty, their substantive due process rights, and their rights to equal protection.” The state Supreme Court in 2023 affirmed Oklahomans’ right to life-saving abortion care, and the lawsuit asks the courts to apply the same rights to pregnancies with fatal fetal diagnoses.

Two Oklahoma doctors who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology and the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice are also named as plaintiffs. 

Currently, Oklahoma only allows abortion in very narrow circumstances, to save the life of the mother.

At 14 weeks pregnant, Hoffman suffered heavy bleeding and learned she had a “huge blood clot,” which required bed rest, according to the lawsuit. After her baby’s growth looked unusual, at 19 weeks, she underwent an anatomy scan with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. The specialist diagnosed her baby with anencephaly, and said it had a “tiny bit of brain floating around,” but “no skull” and had “no chance of survival,” according to the lawsuit. 

The specialist told Hoffman the baby would not survive, and she had two options, leave the state to obtain an abortion or continue the pregnancy to term. If she carried to term, it was possible she could deliver a child who might live for a few hours or days, but would “be blind and dying,” according to the lawsuit.  

She and her husband later decided to travel to New Mexico to terminate the pregnancy, but because her insurance would not cover an out-of-state procedure Hoffman had to pay $3,000 out of pocket for her care, according to the lawsuit. Hoffman also lost her job because of the time she had to take off for her abortion, the lawsuit says.

“Oklahoma turned the hardest day of my life into weeks of needless suffering on top of our grief,” she said in a statement. “I had to travel eight hours out of state to get care, far from my home, my family, and my support system when I needed them most. Oklahoma is failing families like mine.”

Hamlin said when she went in for a routine anatomy scan at 21 weeks, her doctor referred her to a high-risk pregnancy specialist for additional testing. The follow up ultrasound found that her pregnancy was “not compatible with life,” according to the lawsuit. It appeared her unborn child, who Hamlin had named Ellie, had a lethal condition that resulted in a “sac-like protrusion of the brain through an opening at the back of the skull,” kidney cysts, scar tissue in the liver, and extra fingers and toes, the lawsuit says.

The specialist said Ellie would likely die before being born, but Hamlin could try to carry the pregnancy to term. But because the child’s lungs would be so severely underdeveloped, Ellie would “suffocate as soon as the umbilical cord was cut,” according to the lawsuit.  

Hamlin and her husband decided they didn’t want their daughter to suffer, so they spent $4,000 out of pocket to travel to Illinois for abortion care. 

Oklahoma’s laws denied her family the “mercy” they wanted for their daughter, she said in a statement. 

“I should have been able to get the care I needed at home,” Hamlin said. 

Mullins, who heads the state’s osteopathic examiners board and is a defendant in the lawsuit, said he had not been served, but looks forward to “the defense of the laws of Oklahoma by the excellent lawyers employed by the Oklahoma Attorney General.”

A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Health Department said they had not yet been served, but that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Harrison, who leads the state’s medical licensure board, also said she had not been served and had no comment.

The Attorney General’s Office and the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the pain these families have been put through because of Oklahoma’s abortion ban is “unthinkable.” 

“Forcing women to give birth knowing they won’t be bringing a baby home is pure cruelty,” she said in a statement. “Every pregnant person should get to decide what is best for their family based on their own beliefs, values, and medical circumstances. The government should have no place in that. We’re suing to hold the state accountable for the pain lawmakers have caused these families, and to make sure no other families suffer in this way.”

This year, state lawmakers further restricted access to abortion care when Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill making it a felony to distribute abortion-inducing drugs. 

Oklahoma’s infant mortality rate in 2024 ranked sixth highest in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Dr. Elizabeth Pinard, an OB-GYN in Oklahoma City and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the state’s abortion bans have made her feel “helpless.”

“I don’t want to tell my patients to leave the state when I can easily give them the care they need right here in my office,” she said in a statement. “This is not how health care should work. My patients deserve access to all of their options for care, and the state needs to allow us to do our jobs.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights has filed similar lawsuits in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee, according to a news release. 

Reporter Barbara Hoberock contributed to this story.