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

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially 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 court docket that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to immediately cease offering companies for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees 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, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill authorised in Texas final year led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have commonly handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily in 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.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure will not be set to take effect until this summer season, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the data reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.