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 primary within the nation to effectively finish availability of the process.

State lawmakers accepted the ban enforced by civil lawsuits slightly than prison prosecution, just 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 suppliers have stated they are going to cease performing the process as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise immediately,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a statement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have a accountability as human beings to do all the things we can to guard that child’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That's what I consider and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

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

The payments 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 excessive court docket that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

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

The regulation additionally does not apply to the usage of morning-after pills resembling Plan B or any type 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 expected to stop offering providers, it's unclear what's going to occur to women who qualify beneath one of the exceptions. The legislation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors can be empowered to decide which women qualify and that these abortions will be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification may prove troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is one in all 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 regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that enables non-public citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl get hold of 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 Court docket

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