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

“I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they will instantly stop providing providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Heart 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 Court will still grant us aid."

The brand new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical bill permitted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction 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 Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking break day of work, taking day out of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they were in a position to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma bill would allow non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion for as much as $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 primary copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily 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 shouldn't be set to take impact until this summer, and authorized experts say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade choice still stays the regulation 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, in line with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the info exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.