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

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

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

“While the law is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will 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 Court will still grant us aid."

The brand new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An analogous bill approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe nation may appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking outing of school and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result 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 allow personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl acquire an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other 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, but that measure is not set to take impact until this summer season, and legal consultants say it's more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, 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 ladies from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the info shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.