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 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 pregnancy, a 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 invoice.

Stitt's signing of the bill 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 determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous bill accepted 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 different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks 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 carried out as the results of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court 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 quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer time, and legal experts say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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