Oklahoma governor signs the nation’s strictest abortion ban

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

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas legislation that was passed final yr. The law takes impact immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they will cease performing the process as quickly as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life legislation that got here throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a press release. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a duty as human beings to do all the pieces we will to guard that child’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that is what nearly all of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion suppliers throughout the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority may further restrict the follow, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impression shall be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It should also have extreme ripple effects, especially for Texas sufferers who had been touring to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact in September.”

The payments are a 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 high court docket that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

The bill particularly authorizes docs to remove a “dead unborn little one brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The regulation also doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after pills akin to Plan B or any type of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s 4 abortion clinics already stopped offering abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month.

With the state’s two remaining abortion clinics expected to stop offering services, it is unclear what is going to happen to women who qualify underneath one of many exceptions. The regulation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors can be empowered to resolve which girls qualify and that these abortions will likely be performed in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to prove qualification could show tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one of a minimum of three anti-abortion bills sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that permits non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl receive 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 quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

The third Oklahoma invoice is to take impact this summer and would make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by as much as 10 years in jail. That invoice comprises no exceptions for rape or incest.