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 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 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 court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

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

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

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. An identical bill approved in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions carried out 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 Great Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe nation would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking break day of work, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly 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 is just not set to take effect until this summer season, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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