From prohibited to criminal charges – the next phase of the abortions' procedure

The anti-abbreviation movement has entered a terrible new phase-a one that not only prohibits the process, but also tries to pursue pregnant people who receive abortions, and those that help them.

In February 2025, the Senator Dusty Deevers of the state of Oklahoma hired the Senate Bill 456, a comprehensive measure that wanted to classify the classification of abortion as murder murder under state law. If SB 456 said goodbye, he himself would have approved the persecution of pregnant people himself, not just for abortion providers.

Although the draft law has failed, its introduction signals a radical shift in the anti-abbreviation strategy. While previous laws aimed at clinics and doctors, SB 456 made it clear that the ultimate goal is to criminalize the seekers of the abortions themselves.

And Oklahoma is not alone. All over the country, republican legislators adopt a new legal framework to catch pregnant people – by using the language “human trafficking” to criminalize those who help them travel for care.

In states such as Idaho, Texas and Tennessee, legislators will rename access to abortions as “trade” – a direct attack on the intergovernmental travel agencies and reproductive freedom. If this is successful, this could help anyone who helps a person to get an abortion into a criminal – whether it is a friend, a parent or even a Uber driver.

The question now is: was SB 456 only the beginning? Or do we see an even more dangerous legal approach?

Oklahoma already has some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country. Since Roe v. Wade was lifted in 2022, the state banned almost all abortion procedures, without exceptions to rape or incest. Despite these extreme laws, 3274 abortions in Oklahoma still occur in Oklahoma.

These numbers were a problem for the Senator Dusty Deevers and his allies. His solution? Punish the pregnancy residents themselves.

If it is passed, SB 456:

• Completed abortion as a murder and made it a crime according to the existing statutes of Oklahoma.

• Allowed the state to pursue people who give themselves from abortion pills themselves-a clear escalation from previous laws that only providers aim.

• Potentially exposed to those who obtain abortions to life in prison or even the death penalty.

Even within Oklahomas Republican -controlled legislators, this turned out to be too extreme. The Senate Justice Committee rejected it in a two-party 6-2 vote and emphasized an internal raid within the GOP:

• Some Republicans fear political counter -reactions. Since ROE was overturned, the prohibitions on abortion have been defeated in Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan.

• Others, such as Deevers, believe that prohibitions on abortion do not go far enough. His calculation reflects a growing faction that wants a complete abolition of abortion, even if this means to pursue pregnant people themselves.

SB 456 may have failed, but the movement behind it gains dynamics and extends its range beyond Oklahoma.

Even in states in which abortion is illegal, the legislators of the anti-election find new ways to criminalize those seeking abortion and those who help them. One of your latest strategies? Renaming abortion trips as “trade”.

• Idaho was the first state to adopt an “abortion trade” in 2023 and was illegal for an adult to help a Minor Cross -State borders for an abortion without the consent of parents -even if abortion in the travel center is legal.

• Legislators in Texas have proposed a similar measure that admitted civil lawsuits against people who sell someone from the state for an abortion.

• Tennessee is considering a legislative template that would extend the laws of human trafficking for abortion access, ie clinics, activists and even family members could be examined.

These laws directly attack the right to travel – a fundamental constitutional law that the courts have confirmed for a long time. If you hold on to court, you could:

• Criminalize parents, friends or activists who help pregnant people to look for legal care elsewhere.

• Make abortion funds impossible to operate and reduce support for those who cannot afford to travel.

• Create a surveillance state in which pregnant people are persecuted and examined because they try to cross state borders.

It is a frightening escalation in the period after time: abortion is not only redesigned as a crime, but as a form of human trade.

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The driving force behind these laws is not just traditional conservatism. It is Christian nationalism, an extremist ideology that wants to rule on biblical law rather than on secular principles.

This movement sees abortion as a murder, and its followers believe that the ban is not just a legal problem, but a moral crusade. Therefore, figures such as Dusty Deevers and his allies call for complete criminalization, even at the expense of massive political setbacks.

But the effects of their guidelines go beyond abortion itself. If these laws spread further, we could see soon:

• Women who examined a miscarriage for murder.

• Survivors of rape and incest that are forced to carry pregnancies or to be persecuted.

• Doctors who were too afraid to treat medical emergencies for fear of legal consequences.

This is already a reality in some countries. This is the future that the abolitionist abortion movement provides for nationwide. And it is already being tested in states such as Oklahoma, Idaho and Texas.

The SB 456 from Oklahoma failed for the time being. But the movement behind it does not disappear.

• We should expect similar bills to be reintroduced in Oklahoma and other deep red states.

• Other states will try to use laws with “human trafficking” to catch pregnant people and criminalize abortion trips outside the state.

• Legal beginners will arise and the courts will force to decide whether states can pursue people because of measures in places where abortion is legal.

The anti-choice movement is not satisfied with the ban on abortion in red states. Your goal is total criminalization, nationwide.

Are we ready to bring our rights back to an extremely conservative movement in an past century?

1. The guardian – Invalues ​​for abortion murder introduced in Republican states)
   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/aborion-homicide-bills

2. Kosu – Oklahomas “Abolition of Abortion Act” fails in the Senate Justice Committee
   https://www.kosu.org/politics/2025-02-20/abolition-of-aborion-act-in-oklahoma-judiciary-commensee

3. The Oklahoman – Legislative meeting of Oklahoma 2025: Dusty Deevers' Anti-abdication law fails in two-party vote https://www.oclahoman.com/story/news/politics/202/21/oclahoma- Legislative-Session-2025-DEEVER-DEVER-BIL- BIPARTISAN/79307802007/

4. The Idaho Statesman – Idaho says goodbye to the first “abortion trade” in the nation