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 within the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits moderately than criminal prosecution, similar to a Texas law that was passed last yr. The law takes impact instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have stated they'll cease performing the process as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might signal every bit of pro-life laws that got here across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise today,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a press release. “From the second life begins at conception is when we now have a duty as human beings to do all the things we can to protect that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mom. That's what I believe and that's what the majority of Oklahomans believe.”

Abortion providers throughout the nation have been bracing for the chance that the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority would possibly additional restrict the follow, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

“The affect will probably be disastrous for Oklahomans,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state coverage analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It'll even have extreme ripple effects, particularly for Texas sufferers who had been traveling to Oklahoma in giant 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 cut 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 choice that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

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

The bill specifically authorizes docs to remove a “dead unborn youngster caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a potentially life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to using morning-after pills resembling Plan B or any kind 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 anticipated to cease providing services, it's unclear what will occur to women who qualify under one of the exceptions. The regulation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors might be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that these abortions shall be carried out in hospitals. But suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to prove qualification could prove difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is one among at least three anti-abortion payments despatched this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s legislation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that permits personal residents to sue abortion suppliers 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 briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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