Oklahoma Demands Doctors Sign Anti-Abortion Loyalty Oath to Keep Medicaid Funding

8.1.25

Click to skip ahead: Reproductive Police States reports that Oklahoma’s governor wants anyone getting state funding to disclose ‘abortion-related activities.’ In the Courts, some good news on a lawsuit seeking to repeal Colorado’s buffer zone law. In the States, news from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, and more. In the Nation, a letter from Baptist leaders, Trump’s latest judicial appointment, and a few important reads. Care Denied flags an important piece about the treatment of pregnant women in ICE detention centers. Finally, Anti-Abortion Strategy highlights the growing MAHA-tinged language coming out of the anti-abortion movement.

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Reproductive Police States

Last month, I pointed out how some of the most frightening anti-abortion tactics are mundane—bureaucratic, even. At the time, I was writing about a memo from Indiana’s health department that outlined how to “enforce” the state’s ban—including by maintaining a database of women’s abortions.

Now, Oklahoma is taking a page from the same authoritarian playbook—proving that reproductive police states aren’t just built with cops and courts, but with committees, forms, and red tape.

Yesterday, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order cutting off all public funding to anyone remotely connected to abortion care—not just providers, but anyone who refers patients, facilitates access, or works with organizations that do.

Consider what that means for hospitals that get state funding—or any doctors and medical centers who see Medicaid patients. These providers, operating under state bans, have already been terrified to give health- and life-saving abortions. (Who could forget the Oklahoma woman told to wait in a hospital parking lot until she was sick enough to die?) Now they have to fear losing vital funding for even referring a patient for care?!

The order follows a recent Supreme Court decision that effectively allowed states to decide who gets Medicaid reimbursements, and its language—which bans funding, grants, or contracts for anyone “affiliated” or “under common ownership” with an abortion provider—is clearly meant to target Planned Parenthood clinics.

But according to Stitt’s order, state funding can also be denied to anyone tied to a group that “engages in abortion-related activities”—whatever that means. Could a doctor who once volunteered with an abortion fund be fired from a hospital that gets state funding? A nurse who speaks up about the state ban? What exactly counts as “abortion-related”?

We don’t know yet, but you can be sure that Oklahoma will weaponize the ambiguity. Here’s the kicker from Stitt’s order:

“OHCA [the Oklahoma Health Care Authority] shall require, as a condition of participation in the SoonerCare program, that all providers submit a signed attestation disclosing whether they or any related entities engage in abortion-related activities.”

That’s right, the state wants providers to sign an anti-abortion loyalty oath—a contract promising that they and anyone they’re connected to has nothing at all to do with abortion.

In a statement, Stitt patted himself on the back for this bizarre and dangerous overreach, saying, “We won’t allow tax dollars to indirectly subsidize and flow into the abortion industry under the guise of women’s health.”

We’ll have more on the Oklahoma executive order in the coming days, but consider this yet another reminder that the worst power grabs don’t always make headlines—they live in the fine print.

In the Courts

A federal judge ruled against an anti-abortion activist in Colorado this week, rejecting her effort to repeal the state’s buffer zone law. Abortion, Every Day has been tracking this case for the last few years: Plaintiff Wendy Faustin claims that Colorado’s 1993 buffer zone law—which prevents protesters from getting in patients’ faces outside of abortion clinics—violates her free speech rights.

Her suit claims that Colorado’s eight-foot buffer zone forces Faustin to “raise her voice at patients from outside the zone—a mode of communication sharply at odds with the compassionate message she wishes to convey.”

Compassionate, huh? The anti-abortion movement loves to paint clinic protesters as peaceful, praying grandmas—and that’s usually who they trot out as plaintiffs in these cases. But anyone who’s ever volunteered as a clinic escort or defender can tell you exactly how ‘peaceful’ these assholes really are.

The truth? Republicans want screaming in women’s faces to be legally declared free speech. And cases like this one—represented by the conservative First Liberty Institute—only have one goal in mind: get buffer zones back in front of the Supreme Court. They want justices to overturn Hill v. Colorado, which determined that limiting harassment in front of a clinic isn’t a free speech violation.

It’s not a coincidence that this uptick in buffer zone lawsuits is happening at the same time that Republicans are trying to repeal the FACE Act—the federal law that makes it illegal to attack abortion clinics.

The entire point is to make it easier for anti-abortion activists to harass and intimidate patients out of getting the care they want and need.

Keep an eye on: Buffer zone attacks aren’t the only bogus ‘free speech’ cases anti-abortion groups are pushing. Crisis pregnancy centers are also lawsuit-happy these days, claiming that regulations preventing them from lying to women somehow violate their First Amendment rights.

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Read more from Abortion, Every Day about the strategy to embolden clinic harassers:

"God Demands Justice": The GOP's Chilling Plan to Attack Clinics

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In the States

Let’s start with some terrific news out of Massachusetts: The legislature just passed a bill that would expand the state’s shield law, allowing providers to keep their names off abortion medication prescription labels.

Shield state providers have been pushing for this vital protection—especially as Republicans ramp up efforts to punish doctors who ship pills into anti-abortion states. After all, prosecutors and attorneys general in Texas and Louisiana were only able to target New York abortion provider Maggie Carpenter with civil suits and criminal charges because they found her name on a prescription label.

This Massachusetts bill will instead allow doctors to list their practice name on prescription labels. The beefed-up shield law, which Gov. Maura Healey is expected to sign, will also codify state-level EMTALA protections for emergency abortion care, and stop state agencies from sharing reproductive health information with out-of-state law enforcement.

The timing of this legislation couldn’t be better: It’s a reminder that in response to the anti-abortion movement’s relentlessness, states that support reproductive rights need to be relentless, too.

Republicans really can’t help themselves. New Jersey’s GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli knows that abortion bans are incredibly unpopular, so he’s been calling himself ‘pro-choice’. But the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality: Ciattarelli—who supports a 20-week ban—made clear in a recent radio interview that he would ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood as governor, and give money to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

Oh—and just a couple of weeks ago, Ciattarelli hit the campaign trail with an anti-abortion activist from the New Jersey Family Policy Center. Sarah Standiford, national campaign director of Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement, “Ciattarelli is supported by multiple anti-abortion groups and has backed their agenda time and time again…”

We can expect to see a lot of Republicans like this in the coming months (and years)—especially in pro-choice states. They’re going to claim to support abortion rights, all while signing onto policies that make it more and more difficult for women to access care.

That said, not all Republican gubernatorial candidates are pretending to be pro-choice! Over in Iowa, where there’s a 6-week abortion ban, the presumptive (male) candidates doubled down on their anti-abortion bonafides this week.

At a forum hosted by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, state Sen. Mike Bousselot said he was proud to vote for Iowa’s 6-week ban—which the vast majority of voters do not want—and claimed because his wife had a miscarriage, “we know the value of life personally.” (There are few things I hate more than male politicians using their wives’ pregnancy losses to defend abortion bans. Just disgusting.)

Iowa Rep. Eddie Andrews said he believes the state should go further to stop abortion, telling the conservative audience, “The majority of the abortions now are done through the abortion pill, and that's what I believe we need to address the very next thing.” And former state Rep. Brad Sherman said he doesn’t think abortion should be left to the states. “It should be a national law to protect life, period,” he said.

Charming.

Over in Minnesota, meanwhile, anti-abortion activists continue to sink to new lows. The state’s oldest abortion clinic, based in Robbinsdale, was forced to close permanently earlier this year after 64 years of service. The clinic is now set to be replaced with a data center for a local Internet services provider—but this week, anti-abortion activists held a “memorial” ceremony to “remember the estimated 60,000 babies who lost their lives.” Yuck.

Finally, Texas anti-abortion activists are furious with state Rep. James Talarico for saying the Bible is pro-choice in a recent interview with Joe Rogan. Talarico—who may be considering a Senate run—pointed to the fact that “God asks for Mary’s consent.”

“I mean, the angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do, and she says, if it is God's will, let it be done. Let it be. Let it happen. So, to me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create. Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings. But that has to be done with consent. It has to be done with freedom.”

Quick hits:

• New Hampshire has become the first state to require that medical providers sterilize patients who request it;

• An op-ed at the Bangor Daily News says that Sens. Susan Collins’ and Angus King’s votes to confirm anti-abortion judicial nominee Joshua Divine to a lifetime appointment doesn’t align with the views of Maine voters;

• And Dr. Shanthi Ramesh, Chief Medical Officer for the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood, writes how Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ makes patient care impossible.

In the Nation

The same week that GOP attorneys general implored Congress to end shield laws, 40 Baptist leaders from 22 states sent a letter to the White House asking President Trump to “stop mail-order abortion pills.” This isn’t the first time anti-abortion extremists have written to Trump about this matter, but chillingly, this letter—organized by the Family Research Council—directly calls on the Trump administration’s DOJ to enforce the Comstock Act to ban the interstate mailing of abortion pills.

Unsurprisingly, the letter cites recent junk science studies and makes three specific asks—calling on Trump’s FDA to restore medically unnecessary requirements that push the pills out-of-reach; reevaluate the abortion pill’s approval as a whole; and, again, invoke the Comstock Act.

Certainly something to keep an eye on, as anti-abortion activists become more and more emboldened—all while Trump, himself, tries to conceal his extremism on the issue.

A couple more things to keep on your radar: Last week, Senate Republicans handed Josh Divine a lifetime seat on the federal judiciary. Divine, who served as Missouri’s solicitor general and director of special litigation in the state attorney general’s office, led the state’s war on abortion pills. Now he’ll soon preside over abortion cases with implications for the entire nation.

Slate has the rundown on just how extreme he is on this issue, but all you really need to know is that he once argued abortion pills should be restricted because the bleeding they cause will lead women to get PTSD from seeing toilets. Yes, seriously.

You’ll also want to read an eye-opening op ed from Farah Merchant of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, who writes about how local district attorneys who refuse to prosecute abortion ‘crimes’ are facing retaliation and removal. Merchant outlines where this is happening, and how to apply pressure and fight back.

Quick hits:

• Bloomberg on how a federal ruling allowing West Virginia to regulate abortion medication is emboldening other anti-abortion states;

• And Religion Dispatches has a really interesting piece about how and where religious freedom challenges to abortion bans are winning;

“With its dramatic cuts to contraceptive funding at home and abroad, the Trump administration is making its values clear. It does not value women’s health; it does not value their dignity, their control over their own lives, their aspirations, their earning potential, their desire to be freed from ignorance, or poverty, or the abuse they suffer under the hands of husbands and fathers. It does not value their ability to control their own bodies, and by extension, it does not value their ability to enter the public sphere. It does not value their dreams, their gifts, their hard work or invention or aspiration to anything other than making babies.”

- Moira Donegan, The Guardian

Care Denied

For months now, we’ve heard an onslaught of heartbreaking and horrific stories about the conditions inside ICE detainment centers. But this HuffPost investigation from Alanna Vagianos about the treatment of women—pregnant women, in particular—will stick with you longer than most.

Vagianos exposes the nightmare through the story of a newly postpartum domestic violence survivor who was locked for two and a half months in an all-male detention center.

Andrea was held at the notoriously inhumane Krome Detention Center in Miami, kept in a single room with 30 other women—because that was the only room separate from the male population. She was denied a bed, a breast pump, a shower, or any privacy whatsoever. Forced to share toilets with male detainees, Andrea recounted how the men would stand on tables and chairs to peer over the stalls—leering at the women, licking their lips, and saying disgusting things.

“I felt like a sitting duck. There was no type of privacy anywhere. You’re not human when you’re in there.”

Vagianos reports that there are about 56,000 people held in ICE detention centers right now—half of whom are women. Zain Lakhani from the Women's Refugee Commission says no one is looking out for human rights abuses. “They’re creating this black box of impunity, where they’re keeping women who are pregnant or who have advanced health needs," she says.

In fact, the Trump administration just rescinded protections for pregnant women and infants in detention centers. And it’s happening at a time when the number of pregnant and postpartum women in ICE detention centers are increasing.

Make sure to read Vagianos’ full piece—and remember, this is the 'pro-life' world anti-abortion activists are creating.

For more on the Trump administration’s attacks on pregnant immigrant women, read Kylie’s recent investigation below:

We Need to Talk About ICE and Anti-Abortion Centers

Anti-Abortion Strategy

The anti-abortion movement’s MAHA bullshit is growing by the day. The co-founders of an ‘abortion healing’ organization argue in a new op-ed that legalized abortion has compromised Americans’ immune systems. Buckle up!

Because while the anti-abortion movement has spent years falsely insisting that ending a pregnancy causes cancer and depression, this latest conspiracy-laden claim isn’t just about abortion patients. The pair argues that all Americans are suffering from a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder that “leaves us vulnerable to chronic inflammation and cancer, and weakens our immune response to dangerous external pathogens.” That’s to say nothing of the “anxiety, depression, complicated grief, sleep disturbance and autoimmune disorders” abortion is supposedly causing.

I give it a month before the anti-abortion movement is talking about ‘toxins.’ (⁉️ಠ_ಠ⁉️)