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

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution, much like a Texas legislation that was handed final 12 months. The law takes impact immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they may cease performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd signal every piece of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I'm proud to keep that promise at the moment,” the first-term Republican stated in an announcement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've a accountability as human beings to do every little thing we can to protect that child’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I imagine and that's what the vast majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

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

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

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

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

The law additionally does not apply to the usage of morning-after capsules akin to Plan B or any type 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 offering providers, it is unclear what's going to happen to girls who qualify beneath one of many exceptions. The regulation’s creator, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs can be empowered to decide which women qualify and that those abortions might be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification could prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one of a minimum of three anti-abortion bills despatched this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to remain in place that enables non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman obtain 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 briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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