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 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 Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within 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 that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they are going to immediately cease providing providers for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within 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 activity could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An analogous bill accredited in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within 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, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe country would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often handled patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day off of work, taking day trip of faculty and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they have 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 pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure will not be set to take effect until this summer time, and authorized specialists say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more 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 Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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