Oklahoma governor signs 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 pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 Might 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 being pregnant, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

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 determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in impact, they will immediately cease offering companies for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us aid."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. A similar invoice permitted in Texas final year led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in 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 results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl receive an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure shouldn't be set to take impact until this summer time, and legal experts say it is likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the info reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.