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 within the nation to successfully end availability of the process.

State lawmakers accepted the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than prison prosecution, just like a Texas legislation that was passed last year. The regulation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they will stop performing the procedure as quickly because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal each piece of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise in the present day,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've got a duty as human beings to do all the things we are able to to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I consider and that's what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion providers across the nation have been bracing for the chance that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority might further prohibit the apply, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The influence will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It would even have extreme ripple results, 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 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 high court that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The one exceptions in the Oklahoma legislation are to avoid wasting the life of a pregnant lady 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 “useless unborn little one caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic pregnancy, a probably life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The regulation additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after pills akin 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 anticipated to cease providing companies, it's unclear what's going to happen to girls who qualify under one of many exceptions. The legislation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will likely be empowered to determine which women qualify and that those abortions will likely be performed in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to show qualification could show troublesome and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is one of not less than three anti-abortion payments despatched this 12 months 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 remain in place that permits private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman receive an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

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