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 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 being pregnant, 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 in 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's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly 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 new regulation is in effect, they may instantly cease offering providers for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice authorised in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount within 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 Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking trip of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady receive an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court 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, although 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 will not be set to take effect till this summer, and legal experts say it is more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.