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 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, a part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court 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 determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

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

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks can be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they're pregnant. An analogous bill accepted in Texas final year led to a dramatic discount in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking trip of school and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they were in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer, and legal specialists say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been girls 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 number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.