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 being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

3 May 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, a 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 in 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 courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they may instantly stop providing companies for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the law is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer 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 nonetheless grant us aid."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. A similar bill accepted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount within 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, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe nation might look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking time off of work, taking time out of school and taking time away from their household obligations to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the result of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would permit private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman obtain 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 first copycat measure in March, though 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 will not be set to take effect until this summer time, and legal specialists say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been girls from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the information exhibits. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.