The Oklahoma Congress passed a Republican majority in law that almost completely bans abortion and only allows it if the life of the pregnant woman is seriously endangered. The law now has to be signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt, also a Republican, who promised several months ago that he would “pass any righttolife legislation [sua] Desk”. Oklahoma is not the first US state to authorize such a measure: A growing number of conservative local governments in the USA have long tried to restrict abortion rights.
Oklahoma’s law, known as Senate Bill 612, passed the Senate last year and passed the House of Representatives Tuesday by a 70vote vote and 14no vote. It provides that abortions are only permitted “in the event of a medical emergency to save the life of a pregnant woman” and that in other cases physicians or persons who terminate the pregnancy within the state are fined up to $100,000 ( around 92 thousand euros) and imprisonment of up to 10 years.
The passage of the law was challenged by several groups of abortion rights activists who demonstrated Tuesday outside the state capital in Oklahoma City. In fact, if the law goes into effect, according to the groups, it won’t be a problem for women in Oklahoma, but also for those in neighboring Texas, many of whom depend on Oklahoma state clinics to access the disrupted Health Pregnancy: Indeed Texas is one of the conservative states that recently enacted extremely restrictive abortion laws.
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is also dealing with the issue, which is debating the legitimacy of the Mississippi Abortion Act, which prohibits abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy in most cases. Mississippi’s law is considered the most important abortion case in decades: if passed, it could actually jeopardize the historic ruling that has guaranteed federal access to abortion since 1973. The court has six conservative judges and three progressive judges, and according to initial discussions, it appears intent on recognizing the legitimacy of Mississippi law.
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