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 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, a 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 probably the most pro-life state in the country," 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 excessive court that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice 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 quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they'll immediately stop offering services for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned 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 reduction."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. A similar invoice accepted in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the variety 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, stated Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually treated patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking time out of college and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the results 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 invoice would permit personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a girl obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice 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 is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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