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 being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

3 Might 2022, 23:03

• 4 min learn

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 need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly 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 new legislation is in impact, they'll immediately cease offering services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Heart 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 law prohibits abortions once cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill authorised in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking day out of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they were in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would enable personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady receive an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take effect till this summer season, and authorized consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice still remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the data reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.