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 first within the nation to successfully end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers authorised the ban enforced by civil lawsuits quite than prison prosecution, much like a Texas law that was handed last 12 months. The law takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they may cease performing the procedure as soon because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might sign every bit of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to maintain 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 a accountability as human beings to do all the things we are able to to guard that child’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion providers throughout the country have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority might additional limit the practice, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The influence shall be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It should even have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas sufferers who had been traveling 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 reduce abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma regulation are to avoid wasting the life of a pregnant woman or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The invoice particularly authorizes medical doctors to take away a “useless unborn baby caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic pregnancy, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The law also does not apply to the usage of morning-after pills corresponding to Plan B or any kind 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 companies, it's unclear what's going to happen to girls who qualify below one of many exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors can be empowered to determine which girls qualify and that these abortions can be carried out in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification could prove troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one in all not less than three anti-abortion bills despatched this 12 months to Stitt.

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

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