Oklahoma governor indicators Texas-style ban on most abortions

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 May 2022, 23:03

• 4 min learn

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban on Tuesday that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they will immediately cease providing services for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks might be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The brand new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. A similar invoice authorized in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking break day of work, taking time out of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that till September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, but there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer season, and legal specialists say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in keeping with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the data exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.