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 being pregnant

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

“I want Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court docket that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they may immediately cease providing providers for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a workers attorney for the New York-based Middle 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 nonetheless grant us relief."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many ladies know they are pregnant. An analogous invoice authorised in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their employees an idea of what a post-Roe country might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have recurrently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day trip of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable personal residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is just not set to take effect until this summer, and legal experts say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the info reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.