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 Related Press

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

“I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within 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's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly 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 new law is in effect, they'll immediately cease offering providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. The same bill permitted 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 procedure.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking outing of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl obtain an abortion for as much as $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, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer season, and legal consultants say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in keeping with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

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