Oklahoma governor signs the nation’s strictest abortion ban

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

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than felony prosecution, much like a Texas legislation that was handed last yr. The law takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they are going to cease performing the procedure as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every bit of pro-life laws that got here throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise right this moment,” the first-term Republican stated in a press release. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've got a accountability as human beings to do every thing we will to guard that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That's what I imagine and that is what the majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

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

“The impression will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It can even have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas patients who had been touring to Oklahoma in giant 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 reduce abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high courtroom that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years in the past.

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

The invoice specifically authorizes medical doctors to take away a “useless unborn child attributable to 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, often in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after drugs akin to Plan B or any type of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s 4 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 services, it's unclear what will happen to girls who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors can be empowered to decide which ladies qualify and that those abortions will probably be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification may prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is certainly one of a minimum of three anti-abortion bills sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that permits personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody 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 temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

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