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 first in the nation to effectively end availability of the process.

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

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal every bit of pro-life legislation that got here throughout my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican said in a press release. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we now have a accountability as human beings to do everything we are able to to protect that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That is what I imagine and that's what the majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion providers throughout the nation have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority would possibly further restrict the follow, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The influence will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It is going to also have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas sufferers who had been traveling to Oklahoma in massive numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact 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 excessive courtroom that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

The invoice particularly authorizes docs to take away a “lifeless unborn baby caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic pregnancy, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to using morning-after pills akin to Plan B or any kind 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 anticipated to stop offering services, it is unclear what's going to occur to girls who qualify below one of many exceptions. The legislation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will be empowered to determine which women qualify and that these abortions will likely be performed in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification might show troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is certainly one of at least three anti-abortion bills despatched this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to stay in place that allows personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady get hold of an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy 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 bill is to take effect this summer time and would make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in jail. That invoice incorporates no exceptions for rape or incest.