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

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within 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 excessive court that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court 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 immediately stop providing services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical invoice accepted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their employees an idea of what a post-Roe country might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would permit non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady receive an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom 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, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

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

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to data 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 women from Texas.

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