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 Related Press

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

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

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

“While the regulation is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will nonetheless grant us relief."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical invoice accredited in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking time out of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different 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 Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is not set to take impact till this summer season, and legal experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed 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 knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the data shows. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.