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 being pregnant

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 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 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 high court docket that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to instantly cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. An identical invoice accepted in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' law that took effect in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have regularly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of work, taking outing of school and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other 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 just isn't set to take effect till this summer season, and authorized experts say it's more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution still stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in keeping with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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