Okla. Stat. » Title 21 — CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
Oklahoma Statutes

Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 691 (2026)

Homicide defined

✓ current as of July 2026
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A. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another. B. As used in this section, “human being” includes an unborn child, as defined in Section 1-730 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes. C. Homicide shall not include: 1. Acts which cause the death of an unborn child if those acts were committed during a legal abortion to which the pregnant woman consented; or 2. Acts which are committed pursuant to the usual and customary standards of medical practice during diagnostic testing or therapeutic treatment. D. Under no circumstances shall the mother of the unborn child be prosecuted for causing the death of the unborn child unless the mother has committed a crime that caused the death of the unborn child. R.L. 1910 Sec. 2308. Amended by Laws 2006, c. 185, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2006.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 14 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1958–2026 · leading case: State v. Green, 2020 OK CR 18 (Okla. Crim. App. 2020).
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State v. Green, 2020 OK CR 18 (Okla. Crim. App. 2020). · cites it 5× “This Court, in abandoning the common law "born alive" rule, found that the unborn fetus was a human being as that term was defined in 21 O.S.1981, § 691. "We now abandon the common law approach and hold that whether or not it is ultimately born alive, an unborn fetus that was…”
Ball v. State, 2007 OK CR 42 (Okla. Crim. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “21 O.S.2001, § 691. Homicide is generally of four kinds: murder, manslaughter, excusable homicide, or justifiable homicide.”
McCarty v. State, 2002 OK CR 4 (Okla. Crim. App. 2002). · cites it 5× “We recognized in Hughes that 21 O.S.1981, § 691, "was enacted in an effort to protect human life".”
Malaske v. State, 2004 OK CR 18 (Okla. Crim. App. 2004). · cites it 2× “[2] 21 O.S.2001, § 691; 21 O.S.2001, § 701.8(2).”
United States v. Randall Steward, 880 F.3d 983 (8th Cir. 2018). “” Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 691 (A). Homicide is then divided into four mutually-exclusive categories: murder, manslaughter, excusable homicide, or justifiable homicide.”
Cuesta-Rodriguez v. State, 2010 OK CR 23 (Okla. Crim. App. 2010). “12, 2010)(finding no Confrontation Clause violation under Melendez-Diaz where substitute medical examiner testified about autopsy report prepared by another medical examiner on grounds that state statute required autopsy reports under certain circumstances regardless of whether…”
State v. Courchesne, 998 A.2d 1 (Conn. 2010). “2009) (classifying unlawful termination of pregnancy as homicide); Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 691 (A) and (B) (West Sup.”
Hughes v. State, 868 P.2d 730 (Okla. Crim. App. 1994). · cites it 2× “We now abandon the common law approach and hold that whether or not it is ultimately born alive, an unborn fetus that was viable at the time of injury is a “human being” which may be the subject of a homicide under 21 O.S.1981, § 691 (“Homicide is the killing of one human being…”
State v. Allen, 2021 OK CR 14 (Okla. Crim. App. 2021). · cites it 3× “2d 730, 731, that pursuant to our homicide statute, a child in the womb is a human being: We . . . hold that . .”
Quillen v. State, 2007 OK CR 22 (Okla. Crim. App. 2007). “21 O.S.2001, §§ 691, 692. From the facts related in 3 of the opinion, Appellant's failure to obtain medical care for her child was neither excusable nor justifiable.”
Application of Igo, 331 P.2d 969 (Okla. Crim. App. 1958). “Moreover, the statutes define the crime of murder, 21 O.S.1951 §§ 691 and 701, as the killing of a human being by another when perpetrated without authority of law with the premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed or of any other human being, etc.”
Question Submitted by: The Honorable Warren Hamilton, Oklahoma State Senate, Dist. 7, 2023 OK AG 12 (Okla. Att’y Gen. 2023). “2021, § 652(E); 21 O.S.2021, § 691(D). A similar proviso can also be found in Oklahoma's wrongful death statute, which since 2005 allows recovery "for the death of an unborn person" when a physician fails in certain ways ( e.”
Show all 14 citing cases →
— Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 691(A) — 1 case
Cuesta-Rodriguez v. State, 2010 OK CR 23 (Okla. Crim. App. 2010). “12, 2010)(finding no Confrontation Clause violation under Melendez-Diaz where substitute medical examiner testified about autopsy report prepared by another medical examiner on grounds that state statute required autopsy reports under certain circumstances regardless of whether…”
— Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 691(B) — 1 case
State v. Green, 2020 OK CR 18 (Okla. Crim. App. 2020). “This Court, in abandoning the common law "born alive" rule, found that the unborn fetus was a human being as that term was defined in 21 O.S.1981, § 691. "We now abandon the common law approach and hold that whether or not it is ultimately born alive, an unborn fetus that was…”
— Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 691(D) — 2 cases
State v. Green, 2020 OK CR 18 (Okla. Crim. App. 2020). “This Court, in abandoning the common law "born alive" rule, found that the unborn fetus was a human being as that term was defined in 21 O.S.1981, § 691. "We now abandon the common law approach and hold that whether or not it is ultimately born alive, an unborn fetus that was…”
Question Submitted by: The Honorable Warren Hamilton, Oklahoma State Senate, Dist. 7, 2023 OK AG 12 (Okla. Att’y Gen. 2023). “2021, § 652(E); 21 O.S.2021, § 691(D). A similar proviso can also be found in Oklahoma's wrongful death statute, which since 2005 allows recovery "for the death of an unborn person" when a physician fails in certain ways ( e.”
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