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 pregnancy, 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 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 excessive court that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new legislation is in effect, they'll immediately stop offering companies for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice permitted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe nation may appear to be.

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

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of 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, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

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 season, and authorized consultants say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the info reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.