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

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in 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's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly along 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'll instantly stop providing services for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Middle 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 Court docket will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice accredited in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country may appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've recurrently treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking outing of college and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they were in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer time, and legal experts say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in line with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.