The Republican governor of Oklahoma, in the southern United States, announced that he signed a law on Tuesday banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, one of the most restrictive in the country, while the Supreme Court would be preparing to reverse this right at the federal level.
“I represent all four million Oklahoma residents who overwhelmingly want to protect unborn children,” Kevin Stitt wrote on Twitter as he signed into law the text passed by state legislature last Thursday.
Abortion rights threatened in several states
“I want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” he said, using the phrase used by Americans opposed to abortion. The text provides for medical exceptions for access to abortion, but not in the event of rape or incest.
This conservative state had been welcoming thousands of Texan women seeking abortions for several months, after the passage of a similar text in this neighboring state. Since September 2021 already, Texas has put in place a law prohibiting any abortion from the moment when a heartbeat of the embryo is perceptible on ultrasound, i.e. approximately four weeks after fertilization.