Oklahoma governor signs the nation’s strictest abortion ban

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into regulation the nation’s strictest abortion ban, making the state the first in the nation to effectively finish availability of the process.

State lawmakers authorised the ban enforced by civil lawsuits reasonably than prison prosecution, much like a Texas regulation that was handed final 12 months. The legislation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they are going to stop performing the procedure as soon because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal each piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise immediately,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've got a responsibility as human beings to do all the things we will to protect that child’s life and the life of the mother. That's what I imagine and that's what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

“The influence will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It's going to 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 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 high court that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

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

The invoice particularly authorizes medical doctors to take away a “lifeless unborn little one caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The legislation additionally does not apply to using morning-after capsules resembling 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 expected to stop providing services, it's unclear what is going to occur to ladies who qualify below one of many exceptions. The law’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors might be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that those abortions will likely be carried out in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification may prove tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one in every of at least three anti-abortion payments sent this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that allows private residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl obtain an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

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