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 Might 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 Court will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within 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's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new regulation is in effect, they will immediately cease providing companies for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us aid."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise might 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. A similar bill permitted in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in 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 Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking time out of school and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would permit non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone 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 first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is just not set to take impact until this summer, and authorized specialists say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination 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 last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in line with information 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 ladies from Texas.

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