Month: June 2023

On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional. However, abortion remains illegal in the state in nearly all cases, except life-threatening situations. The laws struck down on Wednesday both included a civil-enforcement mechanism that allowed citizens to sue someone who either performed or helped someone perform an abortion. The high court said in a 6-3 ruling that the two bans are unconstitutional because they require a “medical emergency” before a doctor can perform an abortion. The court said this language conflicts with a previous ruling it issued in March that determined the Oklahoma Constitution provides an “inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life.”

Doctors specializing in obstetriccs and gynecology had said uncertainty about the state’s abortion laws often forced them to make women facing severe medical complications and nonviable pregnancies to wait for their condition to worsen before they could perform an abortion. Dana Stone, an Oklahoma City obstetrician and gynecologist, said: “In our practice we had cases where we would just have to tell women who we would normally offer a (pregnancy) termination to protect her health … ‘We have to let you go home and monitor your condition and if you start showing signs of infection or worsening blood pressure, then come back and we have the ability to legally treat you.’  Otherwise, we’re at risk with these laws of going to jail for 10 years, having hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and losing our medical licenses.”

Oklahoma’s 1910 law makes it a felony crime punishable by up to five years in prison for anyone to perform an abortion or help a woman obtain an abortion unless it is “necessary to preserve her life.”  Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement: “Despite the court’s decisions today on SB 1603 and HB 4327, Oklahoma’s 1910 law prohibiting abortion remains in place. Except for certain circumstances outlined in that statute, abortion is still unlawful in the state of Oklahoma.”

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Actor Danny Masterson was convicted on Wednesday on two counts of rape during his retrial in Los Angeles. The Associated Press reported that the seven-woman, five-man jury deadlocked on the third count after deliberating for over a week. The actor has been free on bail since his June 2020 arrest by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.

Wednesday’s verdict was delivered nearly six months after Masterson’s first trial ended with a mistrial, with jurors leaning towards acquitting the now 47-year-old star of “That ’70s Show”. Masterson was accused of raping three women he met through the Church of Scientology (to which Masterson still belongs) – identified at trial as Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3 — at his Hollywood Hills home from 2001 to 2003. He faced up to 45 years in prison if he was convicted on all three counts.

Masterson has denied all the allegations leveled against him by the women. Masterson never took the stand in either the first trial or retrial, and his defense attorneys declined to call any witnesses. The actor also denies assaulting a fourth woman, identified as Jane Doe #4, who told the court during his first trial he had raped her; Masterson has not been criminally charged with raping her. Both of Masterson’s trials have focused on the Church of Scientology, which Masterson’s accusers all said tried to cover up the allegations against the actor. The judge again allowed witnesses to testify how they were pressured by church officials not to talk to police about the rape allegations. Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw has denied the allegations, saying that church doctrine requires members to “abide by all the laws of the land.”

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