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 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 want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they may instantly stop offering services for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us relief."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise might be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. The same bill authorized in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed 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, mentioned Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of work, taking time out of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman get hold of 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, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take effect until this summer season, and legal experts say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the information exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.