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 Related 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 pregnancy, a 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 invoice.

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in effect, they may instantly cease offering providers for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the regulation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us relief."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice accredited in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in 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 Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe nation might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking day out of faculty and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they have been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though 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, but that measure is not set to take impact until this summer time, and legal consultants say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

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