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 Associated Press

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

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the country," 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 high court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in impact, they'll immediately cease offering companies for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers 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 activity may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. An identical invoice approved in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they have been in a position 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 not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would permit non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is not set to take effect till this summer time, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the law of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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