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 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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court docket that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they are going to instantly stop providing companies for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Middle 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 still grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice approved in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions carried out 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 Great Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe country may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking outing of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would allow private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain 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 temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take impact until this summer season, and authorized experts say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the law of the land.

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

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the info shows. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.