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 first within the nation to successfully finish availability of the process.

State lawmakers accepted the ban enforced by civil lawsuits moderately than criminal prosecution, much like a Texas legislation that was passed final yr. The regulation takes effect immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have said they are going to stop performing the process as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life legislation that came throughout my desk and I am proud to keep that promise at present,” the first-term Republican said in a press release. “From the second life begins at conception is when we've a accountability as human beings to do everything we will to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That's what I consider and that is what the majority of Oklahomans consider.”

Abortion suppliers throughout the country have been bracing for the likelihood 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 will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It is going to even have extreme ripple effects, especially 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 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 that implies justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nearly 50 years in the past.

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 law enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes docs to take away a “dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic pregnancy, a probably life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation additionally doesn't apply to the use of morning-after pills reminiscent of Plan B or any kind of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s 4 abortion clinics already stopped offering abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month.

With the state’s two remaining abortion clinics expected to cease providing services, it is unclear what will happen to ladies who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will probably be empowered to determine which women qualify and that those abortions will be carried out in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification could prove difficult and even harmful in some circumstances.

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

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to remain in place that enables private residents to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a lady receive an abortion. Other 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 bill is to take impact this summer and would make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by as much as 10 years in jail. That invoice incorporates no exceptions for rape or incest.