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 Associated Press

3 May 2022, 23:03

• 4 min learn

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, a 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 bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high courtroom 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 impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they are going to immediately stop providing companies for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. The same invoice permitted in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking break day of labor, taking day trip of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers 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, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer season, and authorized specialists say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

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