May 5, 2022

Oklahoma Governor Signs Heartbeat Act

Oklahoma Gov Kevin Stitt
Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act into law on May 3. The law is modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act, banning the abortion of children with detectable heartbeats. Oklahoma's Heartbeat Act took effect immediately when the bill was signed.

Just like Texas's law, Oklahoma's Heartbeat Act empowers private citizens to file lawsuits against those who commit or enable the abortion of a protected child. The child's mother cannot be targeted by such lawsuits. The only exception is in cases of medical emergencies.

Abortion businesses filed suit to block the Heartbeat Act, and that challenge went directly to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. That court voted 6-3 to reject a request by abortion businesses to issue a temporary injunction blocking the heartbeat law.

Earlier in April, Gov. Stitt signed separate legislation that would make it a felony to commit an abortion. That law also only includes an exception for medical emergencies. That law is scheduled to go into effect later this summer, but it was added to a separate court case involving several other abortion restrictions. It's possible that the Supreme Court could issue a decision overturning Roe v. Wade before these cases are decided, however. In that case, each state would be allowed to regulate abortion for themselves.