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 in the nation to effectively finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was passed final 12 months. The legislation takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they'll cease performing the process as quickly because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every bit of pro-life legislation that got here across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise in the present day,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we've got a accountability as human beings to do all the pieces we will to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that is what nearly all of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion providers throughout the nation have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority would possibly additional limit the practice, and that has particularly been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The influence might be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It's going to also have severe ripple results, particularly for Texas patients who had been traveling 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 scale back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s excessive courtroom that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant lady or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

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

The legislation also doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after pills equivalent to Plan B or any sort 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 cease offering companies, it is unclear what will happen to women who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will be empowered to decide which women qualify and that these abortions will probably be performed in hospitals. However providers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification may show tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one among a minimum of three anti-abortion payments sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s legislation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that allows personal residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a girl receive 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 briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

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