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 being pregnant

By SEAN MURPHY Related 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 would like Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state within the country," 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 excessive courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect immediately with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new legislation is in impact, they'll immediately stop providing providers for women after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Heart 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 Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An identical invoice authorised 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 Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' law that took impact in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe country may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have usually handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day without work of work, taking trip of college and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they had been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

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

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure just isn't set to take impact until this summer time, and legal specialists say it's prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the regulation of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in accordance with data from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

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