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 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 Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially 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 excessive court that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in effect, they are going to immediately stop offering companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Center 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 reduction."

The brand new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous invoice approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction within the variety 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 Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country would possibly appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer, and authorized experts say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

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