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 Associated Press

3 Could 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 need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 excessive court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in effect, they may instantly cease offering providers for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An identical bill permitted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions carried out 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, stated Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking day trip of faculty and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would permit personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl obtain 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 copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

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