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 learn

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 want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice 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 resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they are going to immediately stop offering services for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Heart 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 still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical invoice accepted in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've recurrently handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking break day of labor, taking time out of faculty and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that until September 2021 they were 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 result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady 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, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect till this summer, and legal experts say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in keeping with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the data exhibits. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.