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 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 will uphold new restrictions.

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state in the nation," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The bill Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to briefly halt the invoice. Abortion suppliers say now that the new law is in impact, they'll immediately cease providing providers for women after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the legislation is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks shall be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney 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 relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity might be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they are pregnant. The same bill permitted 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 Planned Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe country might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have often treated sufferers who are fleeing their communities to hunt care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time off of labor, taking day out of faculty and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily of their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would permit non-public citizens to sue abortion providers 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 stay in place, other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure isn't set to take effect until this summer time, and authorized specialists say it is more likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade resolution nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, based on knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma have been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect 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.