Stitt was joined at the signing ceremony Tuesday morning by members of the legislature, faith leaders and a number of antiabortion groups “in support of protecting lives of unborn children in Oklahoma.” He sat at desk featuring a poster with the words “Life is a human right,” which others behind him also held.
The bill, which passed the Senate last year and the House earlier this month with more than 80 percent support in both chambers, makes performing an abortion a felony. Anyone convicted would face up to 10 years in prison and a $ 100,000 fine.
The law makes an exception if the life of the mother is in danger, but has no exception for rape or incest.
If it is not blocked by the courts, the bill is scheduled to take effect this summer when the Oklahoma legislature adjourns. Unlike several other abortion bans proposed in Oklahoma this session, it does not include the emergency clause that allows a bill to take effect as soon as it’s signed by the governor.
The bill’s future will probably hinge on a Supreme Court decision expected this summer, when the justices will rule on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in a case that could overturn or significantly roll back Roe v. Wadethe landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion nationwide.
From Florida to Idaho to Arizona, Republicans have moved to restrict abortion while Democratic-led states have tried to protect access to the procedure.
Stitt told reporters that he was “so excited about the Supreme Court addressing this issue and giving it back to the states where it belongs.”
In past years, three states – Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma – have passed near-total abortion bans, all of which have been blocked by the courts because of the challenge they pose to Roe v. Wade. But this latest bill, passed within months or perhaps weeks of the Supreme Court’s action in the Mississippi case, could stand a greater chance of taking effect.
In oral arguments last year, conservative justices, who hold the majority on the 6-to-3 court, seemed open to overturning Roe v. Wade and 50 years of jurisprudence that guarantees a fundamental right to abortion.
The Supreme Court has already passed on three opportunities to block a Texas law that bans abortions in the state at about six weeks of pregnancy and sets up enforcement via private individuals, rather than state officials, underscoring the court’s willingness to allow at least one state to enforce a restrictive law.
Since September, when Texas law went into effect, banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, patients from that state have been traveling to Oklahoma for abortion care. Oklahoma has treated approximately 45 percent of patients who have left Texas for abortions, more than any other state, according to a recent study from the University of Texas at Austin.
If Oklahoma stops providing abortions, women in Texas and Oklahoma will have to seek the procedure in Arkansas, Kansas or New Mexico, where clinics are already fully booked, scheduling appointments two to four weeks out.
Caroline Kitchener contributed to this report.
