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 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 need Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within 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 excessive court docket 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 Courtroom on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new regulation is in effect, they will immediately cease providing companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now's because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Courtroom will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice accredited in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, mentioned Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their workers an concept of what a post-Roe nation might appear to be.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have repeatedly treated patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day off of work, taking outing of school and taking time away from their household duties to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl receive an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer time, and legal consultants say it is likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in keeping with information from the Oklahoma State Department of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

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