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Activists decry anti-abortion bills Oklahoma City Women’s March participants march around the state Capitol Oct. 2.
Protesters rally against imminent restrictive legislation ARI FIFE @arriifife
About a month before nine bills restricting abortion access in Oklahoma will take effect, a crowd of around 200 gathered outside the state Capitol to rally against an increase in anti-abortion laws across the country. Oklahoma City Women’s March organizers said the event ’s purpose was to bring awareness to the lack of Supreme Court action against restrictive abortion laws in other states, including Texas, which recently passed Senate Bill 8. They also said they hoped to highlight the lack of maternal and infant care in Oklahoma, which is the fourth worst state for maternal mortality. Of the nine bills signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate Bill 918 would grant Oklahoma authority to prohibit abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. House Bill 2441 would prohibit abortions after “a fetal heartbeat”
is detected, unless the pregnancy would threaten the mother’s life. A group of local and national organizations — including The Center for Reproductive Rights, several Planned Parenthood affiliates, the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice and Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic — is challenging five of the bills in a lawsuit. The Supreme Court didn’t act on an emergency request to block a Texas law banning abortions as soon as cardiac activity is detectable — usually around six weeks into the pregnancy. President Joe Biden criticized the Supreme Court’s decision in a September statement, saying the bill “unleashes unconstitutional chaos.” In December, the Supreme Court is set to hear a case on a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks — about two months earlier than Roe v. Wade stipulates. Women’s March organizer Rebecca Burk said the Supreme Court’s lack of action on strict abortion laws indicates it’s “very seriously considering overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Demand for Oklahoma abortion clinics has significantly increased amid near-total abortion bans in nearby states, Women’s March organizer Laura Ogle said. A doctor at the Planned Parenthood Tulsa facility said in September the clinic has seen a 646 percent daily increase in Texas patients, according to The Oklahoman. Burk said she hasn’t seen the same amount of concern regarding restrictive abortion laws in Oklahoma as in Texas and other states. Though Oklahoma HB 2441 mirrors Texas’ “heartbeat” bill, with no exceptions for rape or incest, most discussion in the state began only after the Texas bill went into effect. “Unfortunately, we may see kind of a similar thing here where a lot of people just don’t really fully realize until it’s already happened,” Burk said. Former state Sen. Connie Johnson said she worked in the state Capitol from 1981 to 2014. During most of that time, she said Health and Human Services committee chair Bernest Cain played a major role in protecting women’s rights in the state.
After he termed out in 2006, Johnson said the State Senate was immediately hit with a slew of anti-abortion bills. Johnson said efforts by state legislators to push forward restrictive legislation made her “absolutely livid.” In 2012, she introduced a “spilled semen” amendment to Oklahoma’s “personhood” bill, which would classify “any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina” as action against an unborn child. Because of the national attention the amendment received, Johnson said the bill never arrived on the House floor. Johnson became the first Black woman nominated to statewide office when she won the Democratic primary for an Oklahoma U.S. Senator seat, though she lost to Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) in the general election. Johnson announced a campaign in the 2022 gubernatorial race in July. She said although she was defeated by Drew Edmondson in the 2018 gubernatorial Democratic primary, now is the time for a second attempt.
“I couldn’t sit on the sideline, knowing that all the experience, the knowledge that I have … to help make Oklahoma a better place for people wasn’t going to be exerted,” Johnson said. “I have a duty to take all that I’ve been given, and all that I’ve ever had the chance and opportunity to receive to give back.” She also said young women “in the prime of their lives” have the most to lose from laws restricting abortion access. “College women especially ought to be voting like their very futures depend on it,” Johnson said. “I think they would be the group (that is) the most affected, potentially, but I think they’re also the group that has the greatest potential to make this big difference.” Women’s March organizer Alana Westfall moved to Oklahoma from New Mexico and said she didn’t realize how bad the state’s healthcare for women was until arriving. She said the state’s been effective at attracting young people for work, but the lack of health care resources might prevent some from moving.
Psychology and crimi n o l o g y ju n i o r a n d O U Women’s Health Advocacy Vice President of Education Stacey Johnson said group m e mb e r s at t e n d e d t h e march because abortion is a women’s health issue. Stacey Johnson said the group is working to keep abortion accessible, even with potential additional obstacles. A WHA education officer is developing a blog with information, and the organization’s Instagram has reproductive rights resources, like the Women’s Resource Center and the Mary Abbott Children’s House. “Girls our age should not be in the position of choosing whether they need to sacrifice the rest of their life to take care of a child or if they want to go get an education,” Stacey Johnson said. “There’s so many things that intersect with the issue of abortion that affect everyday life, and women shouldn’t have to fight to have control of their own body, which should be an inalienable right.” fifeari@gmail.com
Sooners’ offense delivers in 1st away game OU focuses on consistency to give strong 2nd-half play MASON YOUNG @Mason_Young_0
MANHATTAN, Kansas — Spencer Rattler raised his hands to signal a touchdown as Kennedy Brooks rolled into the end zone off a 2-yard pitch. It would’ve been easy for Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) to fret over another low-scoring first half as it narrowly led Kansas State (3-2, 0-2) 13-10 at halftime on Oct. 2. Instead, it chose to respond, surging to Brooks’ touchdown on nine plays and 75 yards in little over three minutes to open the second half. And following potentially OU’s best possession of the season — where it sped upfield freely, gaining ground on all but one play — its defense forced K-State’s only punt of the game and the No. 6 Sooners never looked back, holding on for a 37-31 road win against Kansas State before 47,690 fans. “I knew it was gonna be important,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said of his team’s quick
second-half response. “You take us two years ago to this game, we played a pretty decent first half. … It was really close, and then we had an awful, awful third quarter here in (2019). “And so we really challenged the guys. We knew we needed to come out and establish some momentum and we felt like we were close to doing that … and being able to back that up with the stop and a couple of scores there are obviously huge.” The victory snapped a twogame losing streak against c o a c h C h r i s K l i e ma n ’s Wildcats and Oklahoma also amassed at least 30 points in its 34th-straight true road game, adding to the longest scoring streak in college football since at least 1980. Additionally, Riley captured his 50th win as the Sooners’ coach, becoming the third fastest to do so behind legends Barry Switzer and Bud Wilkinson. After consecutive lackluster outputs of 23 and 16 points — both Riley-era lows — against Nebraska and West Virginia, Oklahoma is finding its offensive groove. The Sooners scored on all but one of their possessions against KSU and churned out 392 yards of
offense, a season high aside from their 624-yard drubbing of FCS Western Carolina. “We all wanted to play better coming into this week,” said Rattler, OU redshirt sophomore quarterback. “Every person on the offense takes accountability. That’s something that’s important with our team, we’re never just looking at one guy, it’s always a group thing, so we did a great job. Everybody did a great job of doing their job this weekend. We played a great game.” O U wa s ab l e t o o p e n up its running game like it hadn’t through four games, as Brooks, a redshirt junior, rumbled for a season high 91 yards on 15 carries. Brooks and co-starting running back Eric Gray’s hard-nosed rushes unlocked the throwing lanes for Rattler, who tossed for 243 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-25 passing. A 4-yard touchdown run by redshirt senior H-back Jeremiah Hall — the first of his career — and two field goals from redshirt junior kicker Gabe Brkic got Oklahoma its advantage at the break. Those three drives were Oklahoma’s only in the first quarter, as it was outpaced in time of possession 10:46-4:14. “Every drive to us in this
TREY YOUNG/THE DAILY
Redshirt junior running back Kennedy Brooks during the game against Kansas State in Manhattan on Oct. 2.
game was important,” Rattler said. “We came into this game working on our consistency. … Having these low drive numbers and not getting as many drives, you gotta take every drive and treat it like it’s our last.”
Following Brooks’ score and Speed D’s stand to begin the third quarter, OU and Kansas State traded blows, which saw Rattler find senior receiver Mike Woods and then Hall for touchdowns. With little over three
minutes remaining in the third quarter, Kansas State looked to turn the tide via an onside kickoff while trailing 34-24. At first it appeared the Wildcats see K-STATE page 4