Oklahoma governor indicators 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 within the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits moderately than legal prosecution, much like a Texas law that was passed final yr. 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 quickly as the invoice is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I'm proud to keep that promise right now,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we've a responsibility as human beings to do all the things we will to guard that child’s life and the life of the mom. That's what I believe and that is what the vast majority of Oklahomans believe.”

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

“The impression will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” mentioned Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It is going to even have severe ripple results, particularly for Texas patients 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 reduce abortion rights. It comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court docket that means justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years ago.

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

The invoice specifically authorizes medical doctors to remove a “lifeless unborn baby caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation also doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after tablets resembling Plan B or any kind 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 providing services, it's unclear what will happen to ladies who qualify underneath one of many exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says medical doctors shall be empowered to determine which girls qualify and that these abortions shall be performed in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification may show tough and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one among not less than three anti-abortion bills sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s regulation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Court docket has allowed to remain in place that allows non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anyone who helps a woman receive an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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