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 primary within the nation to successfully end availability of the process.

State lawmakers permitted the ban enforced by civil lawsuits fairly than legal prosecution, much like a Texas regulation that was passed last yr. The legislation takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have said they are going to cease performing the procedure as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd sign each piece of pro-life laws that got here across my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have a duty as human beings to do the whole lot we can to protect that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That is what I believe and that's what nearly all of Oklahomans consider.”

Abortion suppliers across the nation have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority might additional limit the follow, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impact will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It would even have extreme ripple results, especially for Texas sufferers who had been traveling 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 scale back abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court docket that implies justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma regulation are to save lots of the life of a pregnant girl or if the pregnancy is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to regulation enforcement.

The invoice specifically authorizes medical doctors to remove a “lifeless unborn little one caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation additionally does not apply to the use of morning-after drugs equivalent 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 providing companies, it is unclear what will occur to girls who qualify below one of the exceptions. The legislation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will be empowered to decide which ladies qualify and that these abortions will likely be performed in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to prove qualification might show difficult and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one in all a minimum of three anti-abortion payments sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to remain in place that allows non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a lady acquire an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

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