3 Oklahoma Abortion Bills Signed Into Law
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed three anti-abortion bills into law, including ones to criminalize the procedure in certain cases and cost providers their medical licenses for performing them. The Republican-controlled Senate passed measures requiring physicians who perform abortions to be certified in obstetrics and gynecology, adding performing an abortion to the list of unprofessional conduct by doctors, and prohibiting abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. In the case of the fetal-heartbeat bill, any doctor who performs an abortion after detecting a heartbeat would be guilty of homicide. Embryonic cardiac activity can be detected using vaginal ultrasounds as early as 6 weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Less-invasive abdominal ultrasounds can detect a heartbeat a few weeks later. Read more...