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 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, 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 nation," 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 high court docket that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Middle 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us relief."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. A similar bill authorised 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 different surrounding states for the procedure.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have repeatedly treated patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking day out of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

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

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past two decades, from greater 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 Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Earlier than 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.