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 authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits slightly than felony prosecution, similar to a Texas regulation that was handed final yr. The law takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they may cease performing the procedure as soon because the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every piece of pro-life legislation that got here across my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise right this moment,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we now have a accountability as human beings to do all the pieces we will to guard that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That's what I imagine and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion suppliers across the nation have been bracing for the chance that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority may additional restrict the practice, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The impression can be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It would even have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in massive numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into impact 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 courtroom that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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

The bill particularly authorizes medical doctors to take away a “dead unborn youngster caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation additionally does not apply to the usage of morning-after pills reminiscent of Plan B or any sort 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 offering companies, it's unclear what is going to occur to ladies who qualify below one of the exceptions. The regulation’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors will 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 prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is one among not less than three anti-abortion payments despatched this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s legislation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that enables personal citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman get hold of an abortion. Other 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 up to 10 years in jail. That invoice contains no exceptions for rape or incest.