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 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, 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 probably the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the bill.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high court docket that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

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

“Whereas the legislation is in effect, which it now is as a result of the governor signed it, abortion companies after six weeks might be largely unavailable," said Rabia Muqaddam, a workers 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, however we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket will still grant us aid."

The brand new regulation prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise will be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks right into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. A similar bill accepted in Texas last 12 months led to a dramatic discount within the variety of abortions carried out in that state, with many ladies going to Oklahoma and other surrounding states for the process.

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

“Since that day, my colleagues and I've repeatedly treated patients who're fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden mentioned. “They’re taking time without work of labor, taking outing of school and taking time away from their household responsibilities to get the care that till September 2021 they were able to get safely and readily in their communities."

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

Like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom 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, though it has been temporarily 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 is just not set to take effect until this summer time, and legal consultants say it's likely to be blocked because the Roe v. Wade decision still remains the law of the land.

The variety of abortions performed every year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last 20 years, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to 3,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Health. In 2020, before the Texas legislation was handed, about 9% of the abortions carried out 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 every month, the info reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas girls in September and 243 in October.