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 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 pregnancy, 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 the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the legislation is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said 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 docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will 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 bill approved in Texas final year led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently treated patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day without work of labor, taking time out of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody 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 first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take impact till this summer, and legal consultants say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution still stays the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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