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 Might 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 nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

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 contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the brand new regulation is in impact, they are going to immediately cease offering providers for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“Whereas the regulation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a staff legal professional for the New York-based Center 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 docket will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. The same invoice approved in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said Texas' law that took impact in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe country might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've commonly handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking trip of faculty and taking time away from their family tasks to get the care that till September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would allow private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman obtain an abortion for as much as $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 first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly 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 shouldn't be set to take effect until this summer season, and authorized specialists say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the legislation of the land.

The number of abortions carried out each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to information from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.