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 effectively finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits somewhat than prison prosecution, just like a Texas law that was passed last year. The law takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they will stop performing the procedure as soon because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would 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 said in an announcement. “From the second life begins at conception is when we have now a duty as human beings to do every little thing we are able to to guard that baby’s life and the life of the mom. That is what I consider and that's what the majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

Abortion suppliers across the nation have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority may further limit the practice, and that has particularly 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 should also have extreme ripple effects, especially for Texas patients 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 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 one exceptions within the Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant lady or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to legislation enforcement.

The bill particularly authorizes doctors to take away a “lifeless unborn little one brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic being pregnant, a doubtlessly life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The legislation additionally doesn't apply to the use of morning-after capsules reminiscent of Plan B or any type 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 expected to cease providing providers, it's unclear what is going to occur to women who qualify below one of the exceptions. The law’s writer, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will be empowered to determine which ladies qualify and that these abortions will likely be carried out in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to prove qualification might show difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into law, the measure is certainly one of at least three anti-abortion bills sent this yr to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas regulation that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to stay in place that enables non-public citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a girl acquire an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the primary copycat measure in March, although it has been briefly blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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