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 Associated Press

3 May 2022, 23:03

• 4 min read

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

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us reduction."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill permitted in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed 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, mentioned Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe country may appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly handled patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking day trip of faculty and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would allow private residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer time, and legal specialists say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice nonetheless remains the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the data reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.