Oklahoma governor signs 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 Associated 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 being pregnant, part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in 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's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they may instantly cease providing companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks might be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An identical bill authorized in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the variety 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 Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe country would possibly look like.

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

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would allow non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain 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 quickly 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 is not set to take impact until this summer season, and legal consultants say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,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 law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the info exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.