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 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 Court docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state within the country," 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 courtroom that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they may instantly stop providing providers for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will nonetheless grant us aid."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical bill authorized in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of work, taking time out of school and taking time away from their family duties 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 performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would permit personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure isn't set to take effect till this summer time, and legal consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed 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 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in keeping with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

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