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 within the nation to successfully finish availability of the process.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits slightly than criminal prosecution, similar to a Texas legislation that was passed final year. The law takes impact immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they may stop performing the procedure as quickly because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might sign every bit of pro-life laws that came across my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise at present,” the first-term Republican said in an announcement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we now have a accountability as human beings to do all the things we can to protect that child’s life and the life of the mom. That is what I consider and that's what the vast majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion providers throughout the nation have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority would possibly further restrict the practice, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The influence will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will also have severe ripple effects, especially for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact in September.”

The bills 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 high court docket that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The one exceptions within the Oklahoma legislation are to save the lifetime of a pregnant girl or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes docs to take away a “useless unborn baby brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The regulation also does not apply to the usage of morning-after drugs such as 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 stop offering services, it's unclear what's going to happen to girls who qualify under one of many exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors can be empowered to determine which women qualify and that those abortions will probably be performed in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to show qualification might prove troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into regulation, the measure is one among not less than three anti-abortion payments sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s legislation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to stay in place that permits non-public residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman get hold of an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

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