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 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 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 probably 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 high court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes impact instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the invoice. Abortion providers say now that the brand new law is in effect, they are going to immediately cease offering companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the regulation is in effect, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees 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 brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. The same bill authorised in Texas last yr 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 process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took impact in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe nation would possibly appear to be.

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

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, but there are not any exceptions if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest.

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

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take effect till this summer season, and authorized consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, in response to information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma every month, the information reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.