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

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the nation," 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 high court that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly together with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they are going to instantly cease offering services for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks might be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us aid."

The brand new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. The same bill accredited in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the variety 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 Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their employees an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've usually treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of work, taking trip of college and taking time away from their family duties to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would allow private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady acquire an abortion for as much as $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 quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure will not be set to take effect until this summer, and authorized experts say it is likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on information from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been girls 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 data reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.