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 effectively end availability of the process.

State lawmakers accepted the ban enforced by civil lawsuits reasonably than prison prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was passed last year. The legislation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they may stop performing the procedure as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal each piece of pro-life legislation that came throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise right this moment,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a statement. “From the second life begins at conception is when now we have a responsibility as human beings to do every part we will to protect that child’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That is what I consider and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

“The influence will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will even have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas patients who had been touring to Oklahoma in large numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect in September.”

The bills are a part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states to cut back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

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

The legislation also does not apply to the usage of morning-after tablets similar to Plan B or any sort 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 anticipated to stop offering companies, it's unclear what will happen to ladies who qualify beneath one of the exceptions. The regulation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors shall be empowered to resolve which girls qualify and that those abortions might be performed in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification may prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into regulation, the measure is one in every of not less than three anti-abortion bills sent this year to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to stay in place that permits non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady obtain an abortion. Other 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 Courtroom

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