Emily Wales, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, speaks to abortion rights advocates outside the Oklahoma Capitol.Photo: Sean Murphy/AP/Shutterstock
Oklahoma’s legislature passed a bill that wouldban abortions after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant, and allows for private citizens to enforce the law.
On Thursday, Oklahoma’s House and Senate agreed to the “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,” Senate Bill 1503, whichprohibits abortionsas soon as a fetus has early cardiac activity, typically at six weeks of pregnancy. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, but none for cases of rape or incest.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt, a Republican, has previously said that he will sign any legislation that restricts abortion, and is expected to sign Senate Bill 1503 into law. Once he does, it will take effect immediately.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signing SB 612 into law on April 12.Sue Ogrocki/AP/Shutterstock
That differs from another piece of legislation thatSitt signed into law at the beginning of April that bans abortions in almost all casesand makes performing them a felony, Senate Bill 612. Under the law, abortions are only allowed if the mother’s life is at stake, regardless of how many weeks someone is in their pregnancy, and there are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
Oklahoma has seen an influx of people seeking abortions from Texas ever since their six-week ban went into effect in September. Abortions in Texas have dropped 60% since then, according tothe Texas Health and Human Services Commission, while the Trust Women clinics in Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas said they’ve had an increase.
“What we saw very immediately after S.B. 8 is we doubled our volume,” Kailey Voellinger, clinic director at Trust Women Oklahoma City,told NBC Newsearlier this month. “We went from seeing about 100 to 150 patients to almost 300 in a month.”
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Anti-abortion legislators in Oklahoma said that the influx of patients from Texas led them to enact their own bans.
“A state of emergency exists in Oklahoma,” state Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, a Republican, said,according toThe Washington Post. “It’s sickening. And that’s the reason we’re making every effort to get our laws changed.”
After the bill passed on Thursday, Planned Parenthood and the Tulsa Women’s Reproductive Clinic filed lawsuits against SB 1503 and SB 612.
“We are asking the state courts to uphold the State Constitution and apply Oklahoma precedent to block these insidious abortion bans before they take effect,” Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the health clinics,said in a statement. “Oklahoma is a critical state for abortion access right now, with many Texans fleeing to Oklahoma for abortion care. These bans would further decimate abortion access across the South.”
source: people.com
