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 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, 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 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 high courtroom that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately along 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 new legislation is in effect, they'll instantly cease providing providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us aid."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical invoice authorized in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe nation would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day off of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay 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.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take effect till this summer, and legal specialists say it is more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, 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 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the data shows. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.