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 primary in the nation to successfully finish availability of the process.

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits fairly than legal prosecution, much like a Texas legislation that was passed final 12 months. The law takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they are going to cease performing the process as quickly as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd sign each piece of pro-life laws that came across my desk and I'm proud to keep that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a press release. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've a responsibility as human beings to do all the things we will to guard that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That is what I consider and that's what the majority of Oklahomans consider.”

Abortion providers throughout the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority may further limit the apply, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It'll also have extreme ripple effects, particularly for Texas sufferers 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 scale back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s excessive court docket that means justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law are to save lots of the lifetime of a pregnant girl or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The bill particularly authorizes doctors to remove a “lifeless unborn baby attributable to spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a probably life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after tablets reminiscent of Plan B or any kind of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four 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 offering services, it is unclear what is going to occur to girls who qualify below one of the exceptions. The legislation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will probably be empowered to determine which ladies qualify and that those abortions shall be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification could prove tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one of at the very least three anti-abortion bills sent this yr to Stitt.

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

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