The governor of Oklahoma signs a law that prohibits abortion from the moment of fertilization

MADRID, 26 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The governor of the state of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, has signed a law on Wednesday that prohibits abortion from the moment of fertilization, making this state the most restrictive in terms of voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the United States.

The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law, legislation approved last Friday in a vote with 73 votes in favor and 16 against, are to save the life of the pregnant woman or in case of rape or incest reported to the Police.

Although the bill considers that a pregnancy begins with fertilization and not with implantation, the use of forms of contraception that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus is not restricted, according to CNN.

"From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a responsibility as human beings to do everything we can to protect the life of that baby and the life of the mother," Stitt said, as reported by the said chain.

The state of Oklahoma gave its final approval in early April to this bill that almost totally bans abortion in a series of measures that seek to punish the providers of these services, both with lawsuits by private citizens and even with prison sentences.

Inspired by the Texas rule, ratified by the Supreme Court in September 2021, there are several states controlled by Republicans in which similar texts have been presented that prohibit or limit the right to abortion.

The White House already denounced last week that the law adopts "the absurd plan of Texas to allow private citizens to sue their neighbors for providing reproductive health services and helping women exercise their constitutional rights."

"They are starting with reproductive rights, but the American people must know that other fundamental rights, including the right to contraception and marriage equality, are at risk," he added in a statement.

After the leak of a Supreme Court draft that unofficially reversed the historic ruling of 'Roe versus Wade', a 1973 text that implies the recognition of the right to abortion at the federal level, thousands of protesters gathered in different cities in the United States to protest against.

Most Americans (61 percent) support making abortion legal, according to a March Pew Research Center macro-study. Only 8 percent think it should be illegal, while 29 percent think it should be illegal except in limited circumstances.