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 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 being pregnant, a part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

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

“While the legislation is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Heart 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 docket will still grant us relief."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. A similar bill approved in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe nation may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often treated patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking trip of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would permit personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

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

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 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 Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

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