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

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in 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 excessive courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Heart 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 legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous invoice authorised in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually handled patients who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking day off of work, taking outing of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they were in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill 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 Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take effect till this summer season, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in line with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

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