Oklahoma passes a law banning abortion after fertilization
While the right to abortion is under threat at the federal level, Oklahoma is now the state with the most restrictive abortion regulations.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt at the White House on June 18, 2020.
Getty Images via AFP
The Oklahoma legislature on Thursday passed a law prohibiting all abortions during fertilization, making this conservative bastion in the southern United States the state with the most restrictive regulations in terms of voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The vote comes as the right to abortion in the United States is threatened by the Supreme Court which, according to a document revealed by ‘Politico’, seems ready to backtrack, 50 years after its historic decision to protect the IVG.
To enter into force, the text must now be signed by Governor Kevin Stitt. This elected Republican had already indicated that he would put his signature on any law imposing more restrictions on abortion.
“Blatant attacks on women”
Inspired by a law passed by Texas in September, this piece of Oklahoma legislation opens the door to lawsuits launched by ordinary citizens against people suspected of having had abortions. The definition of abortion, according to the text, however, does not include “the use, prescription, supply, or sale of morning after pills, or any type of contraception or emergency contraception”.
US Vice President Kamala Harris later denounced the Oklahoma legislature’s decision as “the latest in a series of blatant attacks on women by elected officials”. The number two of the executive thus called on Americans to elect leaders who would defend the right to abortion “at the local, state, and federal level”.
The organization Planned Parenthood, which defends the right to abortion, announced on its side that it was going to sue Oklahoma. “This ban must be stopped – along with all the other bans this state has passed in the past month,” Planned Parenthood continued on Twitter.
Very divisive subject
On May 3, Governor Kevin Stitt announced that he had signed a law that already prohibited abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. “I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” he said, using the phrase used by Americans opposed to abortion.
Oklahoma had been welcoming thousands of Texan women seeking abortions for several months, after the passage in September of a similar text in this neighboring state. Even if it is supported by a majority of the population, according to recent polls, the right to abortion has been a very divisive social issue since the historic “Roe v. Wade” of January 1973, which protects the right of American women to terminate their pregnancies.
In the event of a Supreme Court decision reversing this right, 26 conservative states, mostly in the center and south of the country such as Wyoming, Tennessee or South Carolina, are ready to ban abortion altogether. .
Posted today at 12:12 a.m.
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