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

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in 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 court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they will immediately stop offering services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice approved in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady 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 repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

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 until this summer time, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution still remains the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been girls from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.