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 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 would like Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in impact, they'll instantly stop providing companies for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks might be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Middle 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 Court docket will still grant us aid."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill accredited in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other 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 Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take effect until this summer, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the info exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.