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 Associated Press

3 Might 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, 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 the most pro-life state within the country," 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 high courtroom that it's contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“Whereas the law is in effect, which it now is because the governor signed it, abortion providers after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees attorney for the New York-based Heart for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will nonetheless grant us relief."

The new legislation prohibits abortions once cardiac activity may be detected in an embryo, which specialists say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many women know they are pregnant. An identical invoice permitted in Texas final yr led to a dramatic discount within the variety 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 Deliberate Parenthood Great Plains, mentioned Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their workers an idea of what a post-Roe country might appear like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've recurrently handled patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking time out of college and taking time away from their household tasks to get the care that until September 2021 they had 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 aren't any exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Like the Texas law, the Oklahoma invoice would enable private residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl get hold of an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court docket allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this yr signed a invoice to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure is just not set to take effect until this summer season, and legal consultants say it is prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily over the last two decades, from greater than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in more than 20 years, according to data from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas law was handed, 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 girls from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the data exhibits. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.