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 Might 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, a 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 bill.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The invoice 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 regulation is in impact, they may instantly stop offering services for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Center 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions once cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice permitted in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took effect in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking trip of school and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out 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 invoice would permit non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure will not be set to take impact till this summer season, and legal consultants say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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