The governor of the US state of Oklahoma, Republican Kevin Stitt, signed a law that prohibits abortion from the moment of fertilization.
The new law, which went into effect immediately, follows the controversial abortion law passed last year in Texas, which allows citizens to sue any company or person who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy.
The law prohibits the voluntary termination of pregnancy, except when the mother’s life is in danger, or when the pregnancy is the product of rape or incest.
“Life begins at conception and we have a responsibility, as human beings, to do everything we can to protect the life of this baby and the mother,” the governor said in a statement.
The definition of abortion, according to the text, does not include “the use, prescription, supply or sale of morning-after pills, or any type of contraception or emergency contraception.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responded in a statement that “No one should be forced to continue a pregnancy against their will” and warned that prohibiting abortion endangers the lives of women, who will be forced to interrupt their pregnancies outside the health system.
Oklahoma already had a law that, like neighboring Texas, prohibited abortions after the first six weeks of pregnancy.
Additionally, another rule signed by the governor in April, which will go into effect this summer, prohibit any interruption of the pregnancy, except to save the mother’s life.
Oklahoma’s abortion ban was passed in the hope that the US Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, will overturn federal protection of abortion rights next month.
According to a Pew Research Center study published in March, a majority of Americans (61%) support legal protection of the right to abortion, 8% support an outright ban, while 29% believe it should be illegal, except in limited circumstances. .
Source: Observadora
