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, 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 country," 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 high court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

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

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. An analogous bill accredited in Texas final yr led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions performed 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' law that took impact in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation may appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time off of work, taking time out of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket 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, 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, however that measure will not be set to take effect till this summer season, and legal specialists say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies 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 info reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.