Oklahoma governor indicators the nation’s strictest abortion ban

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into legislation the nation’s strictest abortion ban, making the state the first in the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution, just like a Texas law that was handed final yr. The law takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they'll cease performing the procedure as quickly as the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign each piece of pro-life laws that got here throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise as we speak,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a press release. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've got a accountability as human beings to do every part we can to guard that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that's what the vast majority of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion providers across the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority might further limit the apply, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impact can be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It is going to also have extreme ripple effects, particularly for Texas sufferers who had been touring to Oklahoma in massive numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact in September.”

The payments are part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states to scale back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s excessive court docket that implies justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law are to save lots of the lifetime of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

The invoice particularly authorizes medical doctors to remove a “useless unborn youngster brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation additionally does not apply to the usage of morning-after pills reminiscent of Plan B or any kind of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics already stopped providing abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month.

With the state’s two remaining abortion clinics expected to cease offering providers, it is unclear what will happen to girls who qualify under one of the exceptions. The law’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will probably be empowered to resolve which girls qualify and that these abortions will be carried out in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification may prove troublesome and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into regulation, the measure is one in every of no less than three anti-abortion payments despatched this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that allows non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a girl obtain an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

The third Oklahoma invoice is to take effect this summer time and would make it a felony to carry out an abortion, punishable by as much as 10 years in jail. That bill accommodates no exceptions for rape or incest.