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

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice 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 nearly 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new law is in effect, they are going to immediately cease offering providers for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a employees legal professional for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us aid."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. The same invoice approved in Texas final yr 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 process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice 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 bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure isn't set to take effect till this summer, and authorized specialists say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in line with data 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 had been ladies from Texas.

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