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

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially 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 choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in impact, they will instantly stop providing companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us relief."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. The same bill accepted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking day out of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would permit non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure will not be set to take effect till this summer season, and legal consultants say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless remains the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

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