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 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 Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within 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 excessive courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they may immediately cease offering providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney 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 Court will nonetheless grant us relief."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. The same invoice approved in Texas final year led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies 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 effect 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 have repeatedly handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of work, taking day trip of faculty and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily 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, however that measure is just not set to take impact until this summer, and authorized consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the law of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. 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 girls from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the info reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.