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 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, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the country," 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 high court that it's 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 immediately together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they'll instantly stop providing companies for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks can be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff 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, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. The same 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 procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking break day of work, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable personal residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman obtain 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 repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly 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, however that measure will not be set to take effect till this summer time, and legal experts say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 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, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.