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 in the nation to successfully finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits reasonably than felony prosecution, much like a Texas regulation that was passed last yr. The legislation takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have mentioned they may cease performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would signal every bit of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise at the moment,” the first-term Republican said in a press release. “From the second life begins at conception is when we've got a duty as human beings to do every part we will to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That is what I believe and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion suppliers across the country have been bracing for the chance that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority might further prohibit the practice, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect can be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will even have extreme ripple results, particularly for Texas patients who had been touring to Oklahoma in large numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect 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 high court that means justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The one exceptions within the Oklahoma regulation are to avoid wasting the life of a pregnant girl or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes medical doctors to take away a “dead unborn youngster attributable to spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The law also does not apply to the use of morning-after drugs akin to Plan B or any sort 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 cease providing services, it's unclear what will occur to women who qualify beneath one of many exceptions. The law’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will probably be empowered to resolve which women qualify and that those abortions might be carried out in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification could prove tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one among a minimum of three anti-abortion payments despatched this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s legislation 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 citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman get hold of an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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