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

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the country," 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 high court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in impact, they'll instantly cease offering companies for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the law is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion suppliers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us relief."

The new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An identical bill accredited in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount within the number 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 Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of work, taking day out of college and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

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 time, and authorized specialists say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

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