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

“I need Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in 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 high court docket that it is considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

“While the regulation is in effect, which it now's as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks will probably be largely unavailable," stated Rabia Muqaddam, a employees lawyer for the New York-based Middle 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 Courtroom will nonetheless grant us aid."

The new legislation prohibits abortions as soon as cardiac activity will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. A similar invoice permitted in Texas final 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the number of abortions performed in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Planned Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' law that took effect in September has given their staff an concept of what a post-Roe country would possibly seem like.

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

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the results of a medical emergency, however there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest.

Like the Texas legislation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl obtain an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that mechanism to stay in place, different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, however that measure just isn't set to take effect until this summer time, and authorized specialists say it is more likely to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination nonetheless stays the legislation of the land.

The variety of abortions carried out annually in Oklahoma, which has four 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 additional than 20 years, in line with knowledge from the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been women from Texas.

Before the Texas ban took effect on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma every month, the information reveals. That quantity jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.