Law-makers in Oklahoma approve near-total ban on abortion

Law-makers in Oklahoma on Tuesday approved a near-total ban on abortion, making it the latest Republican-led state in the United States to forge ahead with stringent abortion legislation as the Supreme Court weighs a case that could overturn Roe v Wade later this year.

The measure, Senate Bill 612, would make performing an abortion "except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency" a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 (€92,000) fine.

The Oklahoma House voted 70-14 to send the Bill, which passed the Senate last year, to Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican whose office responded by noting that Mr Stitt had vowed in September to sign "every piece of pro-life legislation" that came to his desk.

If Mr Stitt signs the Bill, it will take effect on August 26th, according to the Senate clerk's office. Its passage came after Oklahoma became a major destination for women from Texas who were seeking abortions after that state enacted a law banning the procedure after about six weeks.

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Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican from Roland, Oklahoma, and the House author of the Bill, said the measure was enacted in anticipation of a pending Supreme Court decision on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

If the court upholds that law, it could upend Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion and prohibited states from banning the procedure before fetal viability, or around 23 weeks.

From Florida to Idaho, Republican-led state legislatures have been advancing restrictions that aim to make abortion illegal in as many circumstances as possible.

Emily Wales, interim president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the Bill was one of a series of anti-abortion measures advancing in Oklahoma, including one that mirrors the Texas law, which effectively deputised citizens to sue clinics and others who violate the law.

Planned Parenthood, which operates two of the four abortion clinics in Oklahoma, plans to challenge the legislation in court, Ms Wales said.

Rebecca Tong, co-executive director of Trust Women, which operates a clinic in Oklahoma City, said the clinic "will remain open so long as we can still be of service to the people of Oklahoma". – This article originally appeared in the New York Times