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

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits reasonably than felony prosecution, just like a Texas law that was handed final yr. The legislation takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have mentioned they may stop performing the procedure as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came throughout my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've a accountability as human beings to do every part we are able to to protect that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That's what I imagine and that's what the majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion suppliers across the country have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority would possibly additional restrict the apply, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impression will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It'll also have severe ripple results, especially for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect 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 courtroom that means justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma legislation are to save the life of a pregnant girl 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 “lifeless unborn little one attributable to spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a probably life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The law additionally does not apply to the usage of morning-after pills comparable to Plan B or any type of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s 4 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 anticipated to stop offering providers, it is unclear what is going to happen to women who qualify under one of many exceptions. The legislation’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors might be empowered to resolve which women qualify and that these abortions will be carried out in hospitals. However providers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification might prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is one in every of not less than three anti-abortion payments sent this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that enables non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a lady receive an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

The third Oklahoma invoice is to take impact this summer time 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.