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

“I would like Oklahoma to be essentially 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 courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“While the legislation is in impact, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a workers legal professional for the New York-based Middle for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers in the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they're pregnant. The same bill authorised in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and different 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 workers an idea of what a post-Roe country might seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have commonly handled patients who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking break day of work, taking time out of college and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, but there are no exceptions if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma bill would allow personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman receive an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to remain in place, different 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 Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take impact until this summer time, and authorized specialists say it is prone to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,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 regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been girls 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 data reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.