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 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 pregnancy, 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's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they will instantly cease providing services for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however 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 consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An analogous bill approved in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking break day of work, taking outing of college and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is not set to take effect till this summer season, and legal experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

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