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 in the nation to successfully end availability of the process.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than prison prosecution, just like a Texas regulation that was passed last year. The law takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they are going to stop performing the process as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life laws that came across my desk and I am proud to maintain 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 now a responsibility as human beings to do the whole lot we are able to to guard that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mother. That's what I imagine and that's what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

“The impact shall be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It'll also have extreme ripple effects, particularly for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in massive numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact in September.”

The bills 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 excessive courtroom that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The one exceptions in the Oklahoma legislation are to avoid wasting the lifetime of a pregnant girl or if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The invoice specifically authorizes doctors to remove a “dead unborn youngster attributable to 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, often in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation also doesn't apply to using morning-after pills corresponding 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 expected to cease providing providers, it's unclear what will happen to women who qualify underneath one of many exceptions. The legislation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will likely be empowered to determine which ladies qualify and that those abortions shall be carried out in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to prove qualification could prove difficult and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into regulation, the measure is one of not less than three anti-abortion payments sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to remain in place that enables private residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl acquire an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

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 bill incorporates no exceptions for rape or incest.