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 Could 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 excessive court docket that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they'll immediately cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us aid."

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're pregnant. An analogous bill accepted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe nation might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for up to $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 primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily 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 shouldn't be set to take impact till this summer time, and authorized experts say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

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