Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed a bill banning abortions from ‘fertilisation’ and allows members of the public to sue doctors who help with the procedure.
CNN News reports that the bill is officially the strictest law governing abortion in the US, as it prohibits abortions of any kind, unless in a case of incest or rape.
Shortly after giving his mark of approval on HB 4327, Governor Stitt said: "I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise today.
"From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a responsibility as human beings to do everything we can to protect that baby's life and the life of the mother.”
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He added: "If other states want to pass different laws, that is their right, but in Oklahoma we will always stand up for life."
The law is expected to be implemented in June if the courts do not block it.
State policy analyst for the abortion-rights supporting Guttmacher Institute Elizabeth Nash has called the new law ‘disatrous’ for Oklahomans, according to ABC News.
She said: “It will also have severe ripple effects, especially for Texas patients who had been traveling to Oklahoma in large numbers after the Texas six-week abortion ban went into effect in September."
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President and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Emily Wales also expressed her disdain for the new law.
“Oklahoma’s politicians, from the governor on down, are determined to strip rights from anyone who could become pregnant,” she said.
“Today, for the first time in nearly 50 years, abortion is illegal — at every stage of pregnancy — in an American state.”
Oklahoma is one of the republican lead states that began to implement anti-abortion rights, with the Supreme Court also expected to overturn Roe v Wade, the case that legalised abortion nationwide.
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The court hasn't had its final say, but a leaked initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, and obtained by Politco, revealed the US Supreme Court has voted to remove the landmark abortion rights ruling.
The leaked ruling also indicated overturning the following 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which largely maintained the right for women in the country to have vast access to abortions.
Charisa Bossinakis