Well, I guess Oklahoma's status as an abortion tourism hub was fun while it lasted.
Yesterday afternoon, our stodgy, sanctimonious, anti-tourism lawmakers sent a bill to Governor Kevin Stitt – a 49-year-old grown man who equates a clump of cells nesting in a woman's body to a human baby – that takes the already extreme Texas anti-abortion law to new extreme levels by banning the abortion of any “human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.”
Just like all the other (at-the-time unconstitutional) anti-abortion bills our lawmakers have passed over the decades, the legislation has generated a lot of negative – or if you're a wacko conservative – positive attention for the state on the national stage.
Here are details via a front-page article in the NY Times:
The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization, which would make it the nation’s strictest abortion law.
The bill allows private individuals to sue abortion providers and anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion. It would take effect immediately if signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who has pledged to make Oklahoma the most anti-abortion state in the nation.
“There can be nothing higher or more critical than the defense of innocent, unborn life,” State Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican, said on Thursday on the floor of the Oklahoma House, where the bill passed on a 73-16 vote.
Obviously, anyone who lives in Oklahoma or follows political news shouldn't be surprised by this.