Oklahoma governor signs 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 first in the nation to successfully finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits fairly than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was passed final yr. The regulation takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they may stop performing the procedure as quickly as the invoice is signed.

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

Abortion providers throughout the country have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority would possibly further prohibit the apply, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impact will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will also have extreme ripple effects, 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 bills are 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 considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The one exceptions within the Oklahoma regulation 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 law enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes doctors to take away a “lifeless unborn child brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a potentially life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation also doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after drugs similar to Plan B or any sort 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 providing companies, it's unclear what will happen to ladies who qualify beneath one of many exceptions. The law’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will be empowered to determine which girls qualify and that these abortions will likely be performed in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to show qualification may show troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is one in every of at the very least three anti-abortion bills sent this year to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that enables personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl acquire an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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