CITY OF OKLAHOMA (AP) – Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed a stricter ban on abortion in the country, making it the first state in the country to effectively end availability of the procedure.
State lawmakers passed the ban on civil lawsuits instead of criminal prosecution, similar to a Texas law passed last year. The law comes into force immediately after Stitt’s signing and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers have said they will stop performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed.
“I promised the people of Oklahoma that, as governor, I would sign all the pro-life laws that were found on my desk, and I am proud to keep that promise today,” the Republican said in a statement. “From the moment life begins to conceive is when we as human beings have the responsibility to do everything possible to protect the life of this baby and the life of the mother. That’s what I believe, and that’s what most Oklahomans believe. “
Abortion providers across the country have been preparing for the possibility that the new conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court may further restrict the practice, and this has been especially the case in Oklahoma and Texas.
“The impact will be disastrous for the people of Oklahoma,” said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for abortion rights who supports the Guttmacher Institute. “It will also have severe effects, especially for Texas patients who have been traveling to Oklahoma in large numbers after the six-week abortion ban went into effect in September.”
Bills are part of an aggressive push for Republican-led states to reduce abortion rights. It comes after a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s high court suggesting that judges are considering weakening or overturning the historic Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.
The only exceptions to Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.
The bill specifically authorizes doctors to remove a “stillborn child caused by a miscarriage” or a miscarriage, or to eliminate an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg is implanted outside the vagina. uterus, often in a fallopian tube. and at the beginning of pregnancy.
The law also does not apply to the use of morning-after pills such as Plan B or any type of contraception.
Two of Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics have stopped aborting after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month.
With the two remaining abortion clinics in the state expected to stop providing services, it is unclear what will happen to women who meet the requirements of one of the exceptions. The author of the law, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will have the power to decide which women meet the requirements and that these abortions will be performed in hospitals. But abortion rights providers and activists warn that trying to prove their qualifications could be difficult and even dangerous in some circumstances.
In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one of at least three anti-abortion bills sent to Stitt this year.
Oklahoma law is in the style of a Texas law, the first of its kind, which the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in force, which allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone to help a woman get an abortion. Other Republican-led states tried to copy the Texas ban. The Idaho governor signed the first copy measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state Supreme Court.
Oklahoma’s third bill will go into effect this summer and make it a crime to have an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. This bill contains no exceptions to rape or incest.