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 effectively finish availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers authorized the ban enforced by civil lawsuits fairly than prison prosecution, just like a Texas regulation that was passed last yr. The law takes effect instantly upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion suppliers have mentioned they may cease performing the procedure as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would signal every bit of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I'm proud to maintain that promise as we speak,” the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we have now a accountability as human beings to do every part we are able to to guard that baby’s life and the lifetime of the mother. That's what I believe and that's what the vast majority of Oklahomans imagine.”

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

“The impression will likely be disastrous for Oklahomans,” stated Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It is going to also have severe ripple effects, especially for Texas patients who had been touring to Oklahoma in large 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 courtroom that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The one exceptions within the Oklahoma legislation are to save lots of the life of a pregnant lady or if the being pregnant is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

The bill particularly authorizes doctors to take away a “dead unborn baby attributable to spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a probably life-threatening emergency that happens when a fertilized egg implants outdoors the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.

The regulation also does not apply to the usage of morning-after tablets corresponding to 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 anticipated to cease offering companies, it is unclear what will happen to women who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The law’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will be empowered to resolve which women qualify and that those abortions might be performed in hospitals. However suppliers and abortion-rights activists warn that making an attempt to show qualification could prove troublesome and even harmful in some circumstances.

Along with the Texas-style invoice already signed into legislation, the measure is one in every of no less than three anti-abortion payments sent this 12 months to Stitt.

Oklahoma’s law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas legislation that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to remain in place that allows personal residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl receive an abortion. Different Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court

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