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 Associated Press

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

“I need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in 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 courtroom that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new law is in impact, they will instantly stop providing services for ladies after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the law 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 Heart 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 docket will still grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An analogous invoice accredited in Texas final yr led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an thought of what a post-Roe country would possibly seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've frequently handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family obligations to get the care that until September 2021 they have been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, however there aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl 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, although it has been temporarily 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 is not set to take impact till this summer season, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in line with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out 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 number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.