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 docket will uphold new restrictions.

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the nation," 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 excessive courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

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

The new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical bill accredited in Texas last yr led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their employees an concept of what a post-Roe nation would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently treated patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking trip of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take effect until this summer season, and authorized experts say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice still stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been girls from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.