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 procedure.

State lawmakers authorised the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was handed final year. The legislation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they will stop performing the process as soon as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would signal every piece of pro-life laws that got here across my desk and I'm proud to keep that promise right now,” the first-term Republican stated in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when now we have a accountability as human beings to do every thing we are able to to guard that child’s life and the lifetime of the mother. That's what I imagine and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans consider.”

Abortion suppliers across the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority might further limit the observe, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It would even have severe ripple results, 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 reduce abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s excessive court that means justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

The one exceptions within the Oklahoma legislation are to save the lifetime of a pregnant woman or if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

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

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after capsules similar to Plan B or any sort of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four 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 cease offering companies, it's unclear what is going to happen to girls who qualify beneath one of many exceptions. The regulation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors might be empowered to resolve which girls qualify and that those abortions will be performed in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification may prove troublesome and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one among a minimum of 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 docket has allowed to stay in place that permits personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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 invoice accommodates no exceptions for rape or incest.