俄克拉荷马城-俄克拉荷马州州长凯文·斯蒂特(Kevin Stitt)周三签署了全国最严格的堕胎禁令，使该州成为全国第一个有效终止堕胎手术的州。
州立法者批准了通过民事诉讼而不是刑事诉讼来执行的禁令，类似于去年通过的德克萨斯州法律。该法律在Stitt签署后立即生效，并禁止所有堕胎，几乎没有例外。堕胎提供者表示，一旦法案签署，他们将停止实施该程序。
“我向俄克拉荷马人承诺，作为州长，我会签署我办公桌上的每一项反堕胎立法，今天我很自豪能够履行这一承诺，”这位第一任期的共和党人在一份声明中说。“从生命从受孕开始的那一刻起，我们作为人类就有责任尽我们所能保护婴儿的生命和母亲的生命。这是我的信念，也是大多数俄克拉荷马人的信念。”
全国各地的堕胎服务提供者一直在为美国最高法院新的保守派多数可能会进一步限制这种做法做准备，俄克拉荷马州和德克萨斯州的情况尤其如此。
“这对俄克拉荷马人来说将是灾难性的影响，”支持堕胎权利的古特马赫研究所的州政策分析师伊丽莎白·纳什说。“这也将产生严重的连锁反应，特别是对德克萨斯州为期六周的堕胎禁令于9月生效后大量前往俄克拉荷马州的德克萨斯州患者来说。”
这些法案是共和党领导的州积极推动缩减堕胎权利的一部分。此前，美国高等法院泄露了一份意见草案，表明法官们正在考虑削弱或推翻近50年前具有里程碑意义的罗伊诉韦德案(Roe v. Wade)判决，该判决使堕胎合法化。
俄克拉荷马州法律中唯一的例外是为了挽救孕妇的生命，或者如果怀孕是由强奸或乱伦导致的，并且已经向执法部门报告。
该法案特别授权医生切除“自然流产导致的未出生死胎”，或流产，或切除宫外孕，这是一种潜在威胁生命的紧急情况，发生在受精卵在子宫外着床时，通常在输卵管内和妊娠早期。
该法律也不适用于事后避孕药的使用，如B计划或任何类型的避孕措施。
在州长本月早些时候签署了为期六周的禁令后，俄克拉荷马州四个堕胎诊所中的两个已经停止提供堕胎服务。
随着该州剩下的两家堕胎诊所预计将停止提供服务，尚不清楚符合例外情况之一的妇女会发生什么。该法律的作者，州众议员温迪·斯特曼说，医生将被授权决定哪些妇女有资格，这些堕胎将在医院进行。但是提供者和堕胎权利活动家警告说，试图证明资格可能会很困难，甚至在某些情况下很危险。
除了已经签署成为法律的得克萨斯式法案，该措施是今年提交给Stitt的至少三项反堕胎法案之一。
俄克拉荷马州的法律是根据美国最高法院首次允许保留的德克萨斯州法律制定的，该法律允许公民起诉堕胎提供者或任何帮助女性堕胎的人。其他共和党领导的州试图效仿德克萨斯州的禁令。爱达荷州州长在三月份签署了第一个模仿法案，尽管它被州最高法院暂时阻止了
俄克拉荷马州的第三项法案将于今年夏天生效，该法案将堕胎定为重罪，最高可判处10年监禁。该法案对强奸或乱伦没有例外。
Oklahoma governor signs the nation's strictest abortion ban
OKLAHOMA CITY --Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into law the nation’s strictest abortion ban, making the state the first in the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.
State lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution, similar to a Texas law that was passed last year. The law takes effect immediately upon Stitt's signature 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 Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise today," the first-term Republican said in a statement. “From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a responsibility as human beings to do everything we can to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe."
Abortion providers across the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority might further restrict the practice, and that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.
“The impact will be disastrous for Oklahomans," said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute. “It will also have severe ripple effects, especially for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in large numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect in September."
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The bills are 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 court that suggests justices are considering weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.
The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.
The bill specifically authorizes doctors to remove a “dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in 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 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 stop offering services, it is unclear what will happen to women who qualify under one of the exceptions. The law's author, State Rep. Wendi Stearman, says doctors will be empowered to decide which women qualify and that those abortions will be performed in hospitals. But providers and abortion-rights activists warn that trying to prove qualification could prove 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 this year to Stitt.
Oklahoma's law is styled after a first-of-its-kind Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion. Other Republican-led states sought to copy Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Court
The third Oklahoma bill is to take effect this summer and would make it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. That bill contains no exceptions for rape or incest.
