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 pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 Might 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, a 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 essentially the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

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

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they are going to immediately stop providing services for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Heart 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 docket will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous bill approved in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their household obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable personal residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure will not be set to take effect till this summer season, and authorized specialists say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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