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 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, 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 the most pro-life state in 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 courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

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

“While the legislation is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us reduction."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill authorised in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' law that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation would possibly appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have repeatedly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking time out of school and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they have 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 no 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 anybody who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take effect until this summer, and legal consultants say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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