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 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 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 the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 excessive courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they are going to instantly cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Middle 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 docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice accredited in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount 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' legislation that took impact in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe nation would possibly appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking break day of work, taking time out of college and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that until September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady receive 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 temporarily 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 is not set to take impact until this summer time, and legal consultants say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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