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 pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

3 Might 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, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially 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 high court that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the new law is in impact, they will instantly cease offering services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An analogous invoice authorised in Texas final yr led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have commonly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking day trip of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would allow private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different 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 Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure shouldn't be set to take impact until this summer season, and legal consultants say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four 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 additional than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than 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 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the information shows. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.