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 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 being pregnant, 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 probably the most pro-life state within 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 courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they are going to instantly cease providing providers for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. An analogous bill accepted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe country would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking time out of school and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that till September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, but there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact until this summer time, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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