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 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 being pregnant, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees 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 relief."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical bill authorised in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking time out of school and taking time away from their household obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take impact until this summer time, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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