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

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new regulation is in effect, they'll immediately stop offering services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Middle 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. A similar bill approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking break day of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed 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 regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is not set to take impact until this summer season, and authorized experts say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in keeping with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the data exhibits. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.