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 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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially 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 considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they will immediately cease offering services for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks can be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Heart 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 Court docket will still grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. An analogous invoice accredited in Texas final yr led to a dramatic reduction within 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 Great Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking time out of faculty and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, but there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take impact until this summer, and authorized experts say it is more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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