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 first in the nation to effectively finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits moderately than legal prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was passed last yr. The law takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have mentioned they'll stop performing the procedure as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal every piece of pro-life legislation that got here across my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise today,” the first-term Republican said in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have now a accountability as human beings to do every part we are able to to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That is what I consider and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans consider.”

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

“The impression will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It's going to also have severe ripple results, particularly for Texas sufferers who had been touring to Oklahoma in large 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 reduce abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

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

The legislation also does not apply to using morning-after tablets corresponding to Plan B or any kind of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four 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 providers, it is unclear what is going to occur to ladies who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The legislation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will likely be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that those abortions will probably be carried out in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification could prove troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is certainly one of no less than three anti-abortion payments despatched this year to Stitt.

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

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