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

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than felony prosecution, much like a Texas law that was passed final yr. The legislation takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have mentioned they will cease performing the procedure as quickly as the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came throughout my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise today,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have now a responsibility as human beings to do every part we are able to to guard that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That is what I believe and that's what nearly all of Oklahomans consider.”

Abortion providers throughout the country have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority would possibly additional restrict the apply, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will even have severe ripple results, especially for Texas sufferers who had been touring to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect in September.”

The bills are 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 high courtroom that means justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma law are to avoid wasting the life 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 specifically authorizes medical doctors to take away a “useless unborn youngster brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The law additionally does not apply to the use of morning-after pills such as 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 cease providing services, it is unclear what is going to occur to ladies who qualify beneath one of many exceptions. The law’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs might be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that those abortions will be performed in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification could show troublesome and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is considered one of not less than three anti-abortion bills 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 stay in place that allows private residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl obtain 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

The third Oklahoma invoice is to take effect this summer time and would make it a felony to carry out an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. That bill contains no exceptions for rape or incest.