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 successfully end availability of the process.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits reasonably than criminal prosecution, much like a Texas legislation that was passed last yr. The legislation takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have stated they'll cease performing the procedure as quickly as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I'd sign each piece of pro-life legislation that got here across my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise at the moment,” the first-term Republican mentioned in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have a duty as human beings to do all the pieces we can to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That's what I believe and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

“The affect will be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It can even have severe ripple effects, particularly for Texas patients who had been touring to Oklahoma in giant numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect in September.”

The bills are a 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 excessive courtroom that means justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant girl or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes medical doctors to remove a “dead unborn baby brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove 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 legislation additionally does not apply to using morning-after drugs resembling Plan B or any sort of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four 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 anticipated to stop offering providers, it's unclear what is going to happen to women who qualify under one of many exceptions. The legislation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says docs will probably be empowered to determine which women qualify and that these abortions will probably be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to show qualification could show troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style bill already signed into legislation, the measure is one in all at the very least three anti-abortion payments despatched this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to stay in place that allows personal citizens to sue abortion providers or anybody who helps a woman obtain 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 briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom

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