Oklahoma Governor "Kevin Stitt" signed the strictest abortion ban law in the country on Wednesday, making the state the first in the nation to effectively end access to the procedure.

State lawmakers approved the ban, which is enforced through civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution, similar to the Texas law passed last year.

The law takes effect immediately upon Stitt's signature and bans all abortions with few exceptions. Abortion providers said they would stop performing the procedure once the law was signed.

The Republican said in a statement: "I promised the people of Oklahoma that as governor, I would sign every pro-life legislation that comes across my desk, and I am proud to fulfill that promise today." "From the moment life begins at conception, we have a responsibility as humans to do everything we can to protect the life of this child and the life of the mother.

This is what I believe, and this is what the majority of the people of Oklahoma believe."

Abortion providers across the country were preparing for the possibility that the new conservative majority of the US Supreme Court would restrict the practice, and this was especially the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

The bills are part of an offensive campaign in Republican-led states to curtail abortion rights. This follows a leaked draft opinion from the nation’s highest court indicating that justices are considering weakening or overturning Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nearly 50 years ago.

The only exceptions in Oklahoma’s law are to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

The bill specifically authorizes doctors to remove "a fetus that has died due to a miscarriage" or abortion, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in the fallopian tube, and early in pregnancy.

The law does not apply to the use of pills and contraceptives.

Two of the four abortion clinics in Oklahoma have already stopped providing abortions after the governor signed a six-week ban earlier this month.

With the remaining two abortion clinics in the state expected to stop providing services, it is unclear what will happen to women eligible under one of the exceptions.

The bill’s author, state Representative Wendy Sterman, says doctors will be authorized to decide which women are eligible and that abortions will be performed in hospitals.

But abortion providers and rights activists warn that proving eligibility may be difficult or even dangerous in some circumstances.

In addition to the Texas-style bill already signed into law, the measure is one of at least three anti-abortion bills sent to Stitt this year.

Oklahoma’s law is modeled after the first-of-its-kind Texas law that the US Supreme Court allowed to remain in place, which permits ordinary citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion.

Other Republican-led states have sought to replicate the Texas ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, although it was temporarily blocked by the state supreme court. Oklahoma’s third bill is scheduled to take effect this summer and would make performing an abortion a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.