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 Could 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 docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 excessive court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new legislation is in effect, they'll immediately cease offering companies for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks can be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical bill accepted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions carried out 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, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've recurrently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking break day of work, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily 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, however that measure shouldn't be set to take impact till this summer, and legal consultants say it's more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade choice nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four 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 more than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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