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 pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

3 Could 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, 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 within the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

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 considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

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 legislation is in impact, they will immediately stop providing companies for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will still grant us relief."

The new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. The same invoice authorized in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently treated patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl 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 temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take effect till this summer, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the data reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.