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 being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Related Press

3 May 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 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 would like 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 high court that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 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 invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they are going to immediately stop offering providers for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us aid."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical bill permitted in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within 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 Great Plains, said Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their household obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice 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.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would permit private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady acquire 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 primary copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure will not be set to take impact until this summer, and legal consultants say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

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

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the info shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.