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 being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Associated 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 will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the country," 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 court docket that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they will instantly cease offering services for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Heart 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 docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An identical bill approved in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction in the variety 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 Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe country may appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often treated patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking trip of school and taking time away from their household obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

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

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

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