The Oklahoma Legislature, in the United States, approved this Thursday (19) a bill that prohibits abortion from the moment of fertilization. If the proposal is signed into law by the governor, the state will have the strictest law of its kind in the country.
The bill is similar to the one that went into effect in Texas in September 2021. Dubbed the Heartbeat Law, it prohibits termination of pregnancy after the fetus’s heartbeat is detected, which happens around the sixth week of pregnancy. , at which time many women still do not know they are pregnant. There is no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
In the Oklahoma bill, abortion would be prohibited from the moment of fertilization, when the sperm meets the egg, making exceptions only in cases of medical emergency, rape or incest. The text says it seeks to protect the “human fetus or embryo at any stage of gestation, from fertilization to birth”.
The proposal also allows for prosecutions against abortion providers, such as clinics and health professionals, and against anyone “who aids or is an accomplice” in the termination of a pregnancy — a vague definition that could open the door to a more severe crackdown on the practice. .
The bill will go into effect immediately if signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, who has already pledged to make Oklahoma the state with the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the US. Two weeks ago, he gave his approval to a project that prevented abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as in Texas. The text approved this Thursday is even more rigorous and represents a setback in reproductive rights.
“There can be nothing more important or more critical than the defense of innocent and unborn life,” State Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican, said on the Oklahoma House floor, where the bill passed by 73 votes to 16.
Oklahoma and Texas are just two of several US states that have recently passed anti-abortion measures, encouraged by an increasingly conservative judiciary.
Soon, the US Supreme Court must end the discussion on a case that could change jurisprudence in the country on women’s right to legal abortion. The lawsuit concerns a law passed in Mississippi in 2018 that prohibits terminating a pregnancy after the 15th week of pregnancy.
Today, the understanding in the United States is that the government has a duty to protect the right to abortion based on the concept of viability, that is, the ability of the fetus to survive outside the mother’s womb. This was decided in 1973, in a case known as Roe v. Wade, a landmark for reproductive rights in the country. If the Supreme Court rules that Mississippi can ban abortions before that deadline, it’s an indication that it has changed its mind after five decades — and many conservative states believe it.
Abortion rights advocates said the Oklahoma bill and new restrictions in other states show there is a new legal reality, even before the Supreme Court’s official opinion was released — a draft decision was leaked to the press earlier this month. .
“This is not a fire drill,” said Emily Wales, president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, an organization that advocates for abortion rights. “This is not a rehearsal for what’s to come. We’re living in this real world right now. The Supreme Court will give its opinion.”
Outnumbered in the state House, Democrats even asked their colleagues not to pass the bill. They suggested that the state focus more on funding family planning services and improving the lives of youth living in poverty.
“A law like this, in effect, means we are going to end abortion in our state,” said Democratic Representative Trish Ranson, who voted against the bill.
Andrea Gallegos, an administrator at a women’s clinic in Tulsa, said the law would make legal abortion impossible in the state. “These laws do not prevent abortion,” she said. “Women will still seek and have abortions. We’re just forcing the citizens of this country to have to flee their own state to access healthcare. It’s pretty horrible.”
Asked on a Fox News TV show how he would help women who would go on with their pregnancies despite financial challenges, Governor Kevin Stitt blamed the “Democratic Socialist Left” for trying to abort children born into poverty.
“We believe that God has a special plan for every life and every child,” he said. “We want everyone to have the same opportunities in Oklahoma, and aborting a child is not the right answer.”
