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 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 Court will uphold new restrictions.

“I want 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 high court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they'll immediately stop offering companies for girls after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the legislation is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. The same invoice authorized in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within 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 Great Plains, said Texas' law that took impact in September has given their staff an idea of what a post-Roe nation would possibly look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually treated patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day out of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that until 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 results of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure isn't set to take impact until this summer time, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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