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 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 Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the country," 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 courtroom that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they will instantly stop offering companies for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers 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, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us reduction."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. The same bill permitted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe nation would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking time out of school and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that until September 2021 they were 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 are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $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 first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer time, and legal specialists say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice 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 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 knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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