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 primary in the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits slightly than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas law that was handed last yr. The legislation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they'll cease performing the procedure as soon as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would signal every bit of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise today,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the second life begins at conception is when now we have a duty as human beings to do everything we are able to to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That is what I believe and that's what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion providers throughout the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority may further limit the observe, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

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

The payments are 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 that means justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma legislation are to avoid wasting the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

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

The law additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after tablets comparable 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 anticipated to stop providing providers, it's unclear what will occur to girls who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The law’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that these abortions will be performed in hospitals. However providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to show qualification could show troublesome and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one in all a minimum of three anti-abortion bills sent this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to stay in place that allows personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a lady obtain an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, though it has been quickly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court docket

The third Oklahoma bill is to take impact this summer season 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.