2022 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 63. Public Health and Safety
§63-1-745.56. Affirmative defense.

A. 1. A defendant against whom an action is brought under Section 5 of this act may assert an affirmative defense to liability under this section if:

• a.the defendant has standing to assert the rights of women seeking an abortion under the tests for third-party standing established by the United States Supreme Court, and
• b.the imposition of civil liability on the defendant will result in an undue burden on a woman or group of women seeking an abortion.

2. The defendant shall bear the burden of proving the affirmative defense in this subsection by a preponderance of the evidence.

B. The affirmative defense under subsection A of this section shall not be available if the United States Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) or Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), regardless of whether the conduct on which the cause of action is based under Section 5 of this act occurred before the Supreme Court overruled either of those decisions.

C. Nothing in this section or this act shall in any way limit or preclude a defendant from asserting the defendant's personal constitutional rights as a defense to liability under Section 5 of this act, and a court shall not award relief under Section 5 of this act if the conduct for which the defendant has been sued was an exercise of state or federal constitutional rights that personally belong to the defendant.

D. Nothing in this section or this act shall limit or preclude a defendant from asserting the unconstitutionality of any provision of this act as a defense to liability under Section 5 of this act.

Added by Laws 2022, c. 321, § 6, emerg. eff. May 25, 2022.

NOTE: Editorially renumbered from § 1-745.36 of this title to avoid duplication in numbering.