Oklahoma Passes America's Most Restrictive Abortion Law

Demonstration for the right to abortion, this Saturday in Austin (Texas). Brandon Bell (AFP)

Oklahoma has approved this Thursday the most restrictive abortion law in the United States.

It obeys lawsuits filed by private citizens and will prohibit the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in almost all its cases, including the deadlines.

Once signed by the governor, it would take effect immediately.

The Oklahoma legislative initiative is even stricter than the one approved last year by Texas, and comes as the decision of the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, is awaited in the

case , which in 1973 recognized the constitutional right to abortion. in the country.

The new Oklahoma law, based on the Texas one but revised and expanded, will prohibit any termination of pregnancy from the moment of conception.

The Texas law, also known as

, allows it until the sixth week.

The bill approved this Thursday by a large majority by Oklahoma legislators -76 votes in favor and only 16 against- leaves health personnel and anyone who "helps or encourages" the practice of an abortion exposed to civil lawsuits from individuals , such as that of Texas, which also establishes the legitimacy of the denunciation.

Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican who promised to make his state the most anti-abortion in the country, is expected to sign it shortly.

The Republican-majority Oklahoma Congress had been taking steps to curtail abortion rights.

doctrine has not yet died down

-the last, this weekend, in 44 cities in the country-, Oklahoma takes the lead, ahead of other states led by Republicans , and is rushing to pass the toughest laws since the constitutional right to abortion was established nearly 50 years ago.

The country is thus divided into two halves, which also show the gap between Republicans and Democrats in a politically delicate situation, the campaign for the mid-term elections on November 8.

If the law approved today is signed by Governor Stitt -and nothing seems to indicate otherwise-, it would have indirect effects in Texas, by eliminating the possibility of legally aborting in the neighboring state.

The text, in addition, foresees punishing even those from outside the State who help Oklahoma women to abort.

The Supreme Court ruling is expected in the coming weeks, possibly in June.

Oklahoma is one of 13 states that have trigger laws that would automatically ban first- and second-trimester abortions if the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent.

It also maintains on paper a prohibition prior to 1973. A negative ruling by the Supreme Court would leave in the air the access to the hypothetical interruption of pregnancy for the 36 million women of childbearing age who reside in those 13 states.

Two weeks ago, just after Judge Samuel Alito's opinion against

was leaked , Governor Stitt signed a six-week-of-conception ban modeled after Texas law.

The previous month he had signed another that theoretically should come into force at the end of August, completely prohibiting abortion except in case of death risk for the mother.

We're expecting to hear yet another bill that bans abortion in Oklahoma, but this one is the most extreme.

HB 4327 outlaws abortion from the moment of fertilization by defining "unborn child" as a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.

one/

— Emily Virgin (@EmilyVirginOK) May 18, 2022

The bill approved this Thursday combines two approaches: to completely ban abortion and to broaden its civil and social ban.

Both the US Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court refused last fall to block the law approved in that state because it depends on the application by civilians, not by the state.

But the one in Oklahoma declares war on any individual, group or collective that contributes to the practice of an abortion, which includes, for example, donors to family planning groups and organizations that protect women from states with very restrictive, even if they are far from Oklahoma.

It is unknown if this harassment of facilitators includes States that, like New York, are proposed as safe havens for women who cannot abort in their own.

The new Oklahoma law provides for "rewards" of up to $10,000 for those who report the commission of an abortion, as well as compensatory damages, including among others one for "emotional distress."

The bill exempts women who abort from lawsuits, a red line that legislatures don't dare cross at the moment.

It does not apply to abortions necessary to "save the life of the child" or the life of the mother "in a medical emergency."

It also allows abortion if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, as long as the crime has been reported.

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