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

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 excessive court docket that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in impact, they'll instantly cease offering companies for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks can be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within 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 law prohibits abortions once cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous bill accredited in Texas final yr led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly treated patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day out of college and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, but there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would permit 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 allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other 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 Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer, and authorized experts say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each 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, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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