Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has taken the next step toward making his state “the most pro-life state in the country.” On Thursday, state lawmakers passed a bill making nearly all abortions beginning at fertilization. Under this law, private citizens could sue those who perform abortions or help others to secure abortion services.
Governor Kevin Stitt’s crusade to end abortion in the state of Oklahoma has not been received well by the Biden-Harris administration. Vice President Kamala Harris recently called Oklahoma’s recent legislative maneuver “one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country.”
“It’s outrageous and it’s just the latest in a series of extreme laws around the country,” she said in a virtual meeting, according to NPR.
The White House did not stop there. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a statement on behalf of the White House.
“The President believes that women have the fundamental right to make their own reproductive health choices. Roe has been the law of the land for almost 50 years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned. Today’s action by the Oklahoma legislature is the most extreme effort to undo these fundamental rights we have seen to date,” the statement reads.
“In addition, it adopts Texas’ absurd plan to allow private citizens to sue their neighbors for providing reproductive health care and helping women to exercise their constitutional rights.”
Having passed through the state legislative bodies, the bill now sits on the desk of Governor Stitt. He is expected to sign the bill into law within the coming days.
