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 pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 Might 2022, 23:03

• 4 min learn

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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within the country," 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 high courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately 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 effect, they are going to immediately cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional 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 Court docket will still grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. An identical bill authorized in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions performed 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 Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, but there are not any exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom 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 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 until this summer time, and authorized consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.