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 end availability of the process.

State lawmakers authorised the ban enforced by civil lawsuits slightly than criminal prosecution, just like a Texas law that was handed last yr. The regulation takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have said they'll stop performing the procedure as quickly as the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal every bit of pro-life legislation that came throughout my desk and I'm proud to keep that promise at this time,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've a duty as human beings to do the whole lot we will to guard that child’s life and the life of the mom. That's what I imagine and that's what the majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion suppliers throughout the country have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority would possibly additional restrict the follow, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It should also have severe ripple results, especially for Texas sufferers who had been traveling to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact in September.”

The bills are 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 court that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma law are to save lots of the life of a pregnant woman or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The invoice particularly authorizes docs to remove a “useless unborn youngster caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation additionally doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after drugs reminiscent of Plan B or any kind 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 anticipated to cease providing companies, it's unclear what will occur to women who qualify below one of many exceptions. The legislation’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will likely be empowered to determine which girls qualify and that those abortions can be carried out in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to show qualification could show difficult and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is one in every of not less than three anti-abortion payments sent this yr 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 permits private residents to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman receive an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy 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 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 prison. That bill comprises no exceptions for rape or incest.