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

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

Stitt's signing of the bill comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's excessive court that it's considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the legislation is in impact, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers 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 new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. A similar bill approved in Texas final year led to a dramatic reduction within 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 Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, said Texas' law that took effect in September has given their staff an thought of what a post-Roe nation may look like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've often handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden said. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking day out of college and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they have been in a position to get safely and readily in their communities."

The bill authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, however there are not any exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma bill would enable private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady obtain 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 copy 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, but that measure just isn't set to take impact until this summer, and authorized specialists say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still stays the law of the land.

The number of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the past twenty years, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, based on data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, before the Texas law was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma were ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.