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 Could 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 being pregnant, 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 within 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 high court docket that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 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 bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they will instantly stop offering services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in 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 once cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. The same invoice accepted in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction in the variety 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, stated Texas' law that took impact in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe country might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly treated patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking break day of labor, taking trip of college and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

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

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer season, and authorized consultants say it's more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

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