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 Associated Press

3 May 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 pregnancy, 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 the most pro-life state within 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 court that it is 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 with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they'll immediately cease offering services for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Center 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 regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. A similar invoice accepted in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many women 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 impact in September has given their employees an idea of what a post-Roe nation would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking outing of school 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 bill authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact until this summer season, and legal experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution still stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the data exhibits. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.