May 25 (Reuters) – Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into law the strictest abortion ban in the United States, one that bans fertilization abortions and allows private citizens to sue those who help women terminate their pregnancies.

“I promised the people of Oklahom that as governor I would sign any pro-life bill that came across my desk and I’m proud to deliver on that promise today,” Stitt said in a statement. a statement.

The Republican-backed legislation, which takes effect immediately, only makes exceptions for medical emergencies, rape or incest.

Oklahoma is among the nation’s Republican-led states rushing to pass anti-abortion laws this year, predicting the U.S. Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established the constitutional right to abortion.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based global advocacy group, said it would “soon file a challenge to the ban and seek to block it in court.”

“Oklahoma is now the only state in the United States to successfully ban abortion while Roe v. Wade is still in effect,” the center said in a statement.

A draft Supreme Court opinion released May 2 showed that the court’s conservative majority intended to overhaul federal abortion rights and defer legalization to individual states.

Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics have already stopped providing abortion services in anticipation of the ban.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma signed into law another bill banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as opposed to fertilization. Like the last measure, it relies on civil lawsuits for its execution.

The enforcement provision in both bills is modeled after Texas legislation that took effect in September and barred clinics from performing nearly all abortions in that state.

Before the Oklahoma laws passed, it had become a destination for Texas women seeking six-week abortions. Restrictions in Oklahoma have now extended a region of the country where there is little or no legal access to abortion, forcing patients to travel to states such as Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado to put termination of their pregnancy.

Reporting by Gabriella Borter and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Hogue

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