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 Associated 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 being pregnant, 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 bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they will immediately cease providing providers for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Middle 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us aid."

The new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice accredited in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've recurrently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, but there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman receive 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 first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer, and legal specialists say it is likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

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