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

“I would like Oklahoma to be probably 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 excessive court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to instantly stop providing services for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Center 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 docket will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. The same invoice authorised in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions performed 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 Great Plains, said Texas' law that took impact in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking trip of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they have been 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 no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable personal residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady obtain an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take effect until this summer, and authorized consultants say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

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