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 Associated Press

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

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in 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 court that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately 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 law is in impact, they are going to immediately stop offering services for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Middle 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 new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice authorized in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking trip of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady receive an abortion for up to $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 first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure shouldn't be set to take effect till this summer time, and authorized consultants say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice still remains the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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