Oklahoma governor signs 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 Related Press

3 Might 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 being pregnant, a part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 excessive court that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Middle 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 will nonetheless grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. An identical invoice permitted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've regularly handled patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day out of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $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 primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer time, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on information from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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