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 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 being pregnant, 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 essentially the most pro-life state in 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 choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in effect, they will instantly stop providing services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An analogous invoice approved in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety 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 Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day 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 have been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would allow personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a girl obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year 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, and authorized consultants say it's more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

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