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 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 docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be probably 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 that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new regulation is in effect, they may immediately stop providing companies for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. An identical invoice accepted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've often handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time off of work, taking day out of faculty and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, but there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take impact until this summer season, and authorized experts say it is more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, 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 legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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