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 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 court that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to immediately stop providing providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers lawyer for the New York-based Center 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 will still grant us relief."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. The same invoice accepted in Texas last yr led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled sufferers who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking break day of work, taking trip of school and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade choice still remains the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in line with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were girls from Texas.

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