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 being pregnant

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

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

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

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the new law is in impact, they are going to immediately stop offering providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Heart 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 Court will still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. A similar invoice accredited in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking break day of labor, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that till 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 results 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 law, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer season, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were ladies 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 data shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.