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 pregnancy

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

“I want Oklahoma to be essentially the most pro-life state within the country," 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 courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The invoice Stitt signed takes effect instantly along with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to quickly halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new regulation is in impact, they will instantly cease providing companies for girls after six weeks of being pregnant.

“While the law is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a staff lawyer for the New York-based Center 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 Courtroom will still grant us reduction."

The new law prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac exercise can be detected in an embryo, which consultants say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, before many ladies know they are pregnant. An identical bill permitted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic reduction in the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the process.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, stated Texas' regulation that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe nation might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have commonly handled sufferers who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking outing of college and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they had been capable of get safely and readily of their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if performed as the results of a medical emergency, but 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 citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for up to $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take impact till this summer season, and authorized specialists say it is likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed annually in Oklahoma, which has four abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last twenty years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was handed, about 9% of the abortions performed in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the data shows. That number jumped to 222 Texas women in September and 243 in October.