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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to immediately cease offering services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers 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 aid."

The new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill authorized in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of work, taking day out of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit private citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly 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 will not be set to take impact until this summer time, and authorized experts say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, 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, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the data exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.