OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, passed legislation in the House that would penalize with a felony anyone who distributes or possesses with the intent to distribute abortion-inducing drugs when the intent is to cause an abortion for another person.

"My goal is to protect the physical and mental health of women," Crosswhite Hader said. "This bill addresses people that are trafficking abortion-inducing drugs to young women with little to no thought to the consequences. all to make a profit from a woman during one of the most vulnerable times of her life."

House Bill 3013 does not restrict the Plan B or Morning After Pill, and it defines and specifies that nothing in the act would prohibit the use, sale, prescription or administration of a preventive contraceptive measure, such as birth control pills or devices.

Crosswhite Hader said there are numerous reports of women being given these medical or chemical abortion-inducing drugs by non-medical professionals who do not understand what the medications can do to a woman if administered incorrectly.

The drugs are often taken in isolation, leaving the woman to go through cramping and bleeding and the shedding of her pregnancy with no medical expert on hand to help her through not only the physical pain and after-effects of the drugs, but also the mental anguish that can result from seeing her pre-term pregnancy in a non-viable state. 

Crosswhite Hader said even more alarming are reports that only the second drug in a two-drug sequence are being given in some instances. The first drug is intended to stop the growth of the pregnancy. The second is to evacuate. To give the second drug without the first presents a greater danger to the woman, she said.

Under the provisions of the act, a person convicted of trafficking or attempting to traffic abortion-inducing drugs shall be guilty of a felony punishable by a fine not to exceed $100,000 or by imprisonment for a term not to exceed 10 years or by both. This is the same penalty as current law for performing an illegal abortion.

The bill now moves to the state Senate where it is authored by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant. If signed into law, it would become effective Nov. 1.