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 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 Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 excessive courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

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

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks might be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney 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 aid."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An analogous invoice authorised in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe nation would possibly appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day off of work, taking day out of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they have been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, but there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain 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 briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is not set to take effect till this summer time, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

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