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 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 docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like 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 excessive court that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in effect, they are going to instantly cease providing services for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us reduction."

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many women know they're pregnant. An analogous invoice accredited in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the variety 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 Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their employees an idea of what a post-Roe nation may appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking break day of labor, taking trip of college and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily 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 until this summer season, and authorized specialists say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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