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

“I would like Oklahoma to be 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 that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact immediately along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in impact, they may immediately cease offering services for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now could be as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity could be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many ladies know they are pregnant. A similar bill approved in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount in the number of abortions carried out in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking time without work of work, taking time out of faculty and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they were capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would enable non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a girl acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket 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, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure is not set to take impact until this summer season, and authorized experts say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade choice still remains the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last 20 years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, in accordance with information from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 girls from Texas had abortions performed in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.