Oklahoma will now prosecute abortionists performing non-medically necessary abortions

On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that bans abortion in nearly all cases.

The legislation, SB612, which passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives last week and the Oklahoma Senate last year, makes performing an abortion a felony.

NBC News reported Stitt signing the bill into law as “part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights.”

The Oklahoma House voted to pass the bill 70-14, and it passed in the Senate 38-9.

Any individual convicted for carrying out or attempting to carry out an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.

At the time, Republican State Rep. Jim Olsen noted that the legislation is focused on punishing medical professionals who perform abortions and not the women who receive them.

He said, “The penalties are for the doctor, not for the woman.”

The bill specifically states that it does not “authorize the charging or conviction of a woman with any criminal offense in the death of her own unborn child.”

However, Olsen noted that the legislation would allow doctors to perform abortive procedures should it be necessary to save the life of an expectant mother.

“Obviously, I’m thrilled because we have the potential of seeing many lives of babies saved — part of that depends on future court rulings.”

Gov. Stitt announced via Twitter that he would sign SB612 into law.

He said, “I intend to make Oklahoma the most-pro life state in the country.”

Stitt said, “As Governor, I promised to sign every piece of pro-life legislation that hit my desk. Today I kept that promise by signing SB612 into law, once again showing the world that Oklahoma is the most pro-life state in the country.”

Pro-abortion political figures were quick to reprimand Oklahoma for the steps it took to protect life.

California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Oklahoma for protecting the life of an unborn child who was conceived in rape and inaccurately said that the law makes it so that “doctors performing reproductive care should be bounty-hunted.”

Molly Jong-Fast, a leftist author at the Atlantic, lamented that SB612 marks an end to easy abortion access. She said, “This is not a drill. This is the end of Roe [v. Wade].”

Planned Parenthood Action — a political advocacy group affiliated with the country’s largest abortion provider — referred to pro-life members of the Oklahoma legislature as “extremist politicians” who are “willing to turn their own constituents into medical refugees.”