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 successfully end availability of the procedure.

State lawmakers accredited the ban enforced by civil lawsuits quite than criminal prosecution, much like a Texas law that was handed final year. The regulation takes impact immediately upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have mentioned they are going to stop performing the procedure as quickly because the bill is signed.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I might sign every piece of pro-life laws that came throughout my desk and I am proud to maintain that promise at present,” the first-term Republican mentioned in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we've a responsibility as human beings to do every part 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 providers across the nation have been bracing for the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s new conservative majority may further restrict the practice, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

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

The bills are 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 excessive court that suggests justices are contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion practically 50 years in the past.

The only exceptions within the Oklahoma legislation are to avoid wasting the life of a pregnant lady or if the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

The bill specifically authorizes docs to take away a “lifeless unborn youngster brought on by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to take away an ectopic being pregnant, a probably life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants exterior the uterus, typically in a fallopian tube and early in being pregnant.

The regulation also doesn't apply to the usage of morning-after pills corresponding to Plan B or any type of contraception.

Two of Oklahoma’s four 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 expected to cease providing services, it is unclear what will occur to girls who qualify underneath one of the exceptions. The legislation’s author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will likely be empowered to decide which girls qualify and that those abortions can be performed in hospitals. However providers and abortion-rights activists warn that attempting to show qualification might prove difficult and even harmful in some circumstances.

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

Oklahoma’s legislation is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom has allowed to stay in place that permits private residents to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a girl get hold of an abortion. Different 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 docket

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