Oklahoma governor indicators 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 procedure.

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits fairly than felony prosecution, just like a Texas legislation that was handed final yr. The regulation takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they will cease performing the process as soon as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal every bit of pro-life laws that came across my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise at the moment,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a press release. “From the second life begins at conception is when we now have a responsibility as human beings to do all the things we can to guard that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That's what I believe 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 prohibit the follow, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impression will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It should also have extreme 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 payments are a part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states to cut back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s excessive court docket that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law are to save lots of the life of a pregnant lady or if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to regulation enforcement.

The invoice specifically authorizes medical doctors to take away a “useless unborn youngster brought on 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, usually in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The legislation also doesn't apply to using morning-after tablets reminiscent of 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 stop providing services, it's unclear what is going to happen to girls who qualify beneath one of the exceptions. The legislation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will be empowered to resolve which women qualify and that those abortions can be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to show qualification might prove tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is considered one of at least three anti-abortion payments sent this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to stay in place that permits private residents to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of 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 temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

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