Planned Parenthood Great Plains and the Legal Landscape of Abortion Care
Planned Parenthood Great Plains announced today the opening of its first dedicated OKC abortion clinic, which also marks the first time Planned Parenthood has provided abortions in the state of Oklahoma. The new location will be located at 6112 N.W. 63rd St. in Warr Acres, according to a press release. The organization features three Planned Parenthood Great Plains offices in Oklahoma, and the broader Great Plains network operates 12 health centers across four states: Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Comprehensive Health Services and Access
Patients must have greater access to this constitutionally protected service in the state of Oklahoma and across the country. In addition to abortion services, common services offered at PPGP locations include:
- Birth control and annual exams
- STD testing and treatment
- Transgender care
- Menopausal symptom management
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
- Abortion referral and counseling
“An individual’s right to access safe, legal abortion cannot just be a right inked on paper,” said Laura McQuade, Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO. PPGP opened its new health center so that patients have one more trusted option in Oklahoma City, and they will continue providing care in spite of some of the toughest medically unnecessary restrictions against abortion providers in the nation.
Oklahoma Abortion Data Analysis
Since 2000, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) has monitored abortion activity in the state. From 2002 to 2015, the abortion rate has declined 33.2 percent, according to the latest data available. As outlined in the latest official report from OSDH, the abortion rate for the full reporting interval was 8.7 abortions per 1,000 female population aged 15-44 years.
| Metric | Value / Statistics |
|---|---|
| Average abortions per year | 5,646 |
| Reporting period high (2006) | 9.4 abortions per 1,000 women |
| Reporting period low (2015) | 5.7 abortions per 1,000 women |
| Total decline (2002-2015) | 33.2 percent |
Emergency Medical Care and Federal Law
The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) agreed to hear a landmark case, Idaho v. United States, to determine whether state-level abortion bans can legally bar abortion even when these essential health services are protected under federal law. Under a nearly 40-year-old federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), hospitals are required to provide patients with essential emergency care—including an abortion if medically necessary.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been clear that hospitals have an obligation to offer patients emergency abortion care to preserve their health and survival. Yet, in states that are now enforcing extreme abortion bans, state legislation prohibits the provision of such care unless the pregnant patient's life is deemed at risk. Clinicians across the country—including in Idaho, Louisiana, and Oklahoma—need the legal protections of EMTALA because many of them fear criminal prosecution for providing emergency abortion care even when it is necessary to prevent serious physical harm. Broad abortion criminalization with narrow or ill-defined medical exceptions is unworkable, and clinicians argue that Idaho's ban undermines the core guarantees of EMTALA that protect patients and ensure stabilizing care.