Oklahoma governor indicators 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 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 pregnancy, a part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court docket that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new law is in impact, they are going to instantly cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within 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 as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. A similar invoice permitted in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions carried out 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, mentioned Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking outing of college and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would permit private residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady acquire 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 temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take effect until this summer season, and legal consultants say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

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