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 May 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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within 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 courtroom that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately together 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 brand new legislation is in impact, they will instantly cease offering companies 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 shall 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 in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they are pregnant. A similar bill authorized in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe country may appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until 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, however there are not any exceptions if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman receive an abortion for as much as $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, though it has been quickly 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, however that measure is just not set to take impact until this summer, and authorized experts say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice still remains the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 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 more than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the info shows. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.