Oklahoma legislators passed a law banning abortion after conception, making it the most stringent such act in the US, according to critics.

The Republican-backed bill would ban all abortions except to save a woman’s life or if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.

The law was passed shortly after information was leaked that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn a 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Republican states in the United States are actively enforcing bills that limit access to abortion.

Last week, Democrats in the US Senate tried to pass a law allowing abortion at all stages of pregnancy. However, it was blocked by the Republicans.

Opinion polls show that most Americans are in favor of the availability of abortion, although according to the same polls, support for the right to abortion drops sharply when it comes to later pregnancy – after the first three months.

Mostly in the US, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Oklahoma has recently passed several laws that make abortion more difficult – in this regard, this state ranks first in the United States in terms of the severity of legislation.

But Oklahoma law bans earlier abortions than it does in Texas, where abortions are illegal after six weeks. This is about the time when heart activity can be detected in the embryo and before many women realize they are pregnant.

The Oklahoma bill defines fertilization as “the fusion of a human sperm with an ovum.” A ban on abortion after conception has long been called for by national anti-abortion groups.

The bill has yet to be signed by the state’s Republican governor, who has pledged to approve any anti-abortion legislation that hits his desk.

The new law allows exceptions in cases of rape and incest, but only if the victim reports to the police. It does not prohibit birth control or birth control pills.

Over the past three months, Oklahoma has passed two more anti-abortion bills that have already resulted in the closure of most abortion clinics in the state.

According to a recent leak to the American press, by early July, a majority of conservative judges on the US Supreme Court could overturn the ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nearly half a century ago.

Such a decision would not ban abortion throughout the US, but would allow state legislatures to determine whether to restrict access to abortion or outright ban it.

Oklahoma is one of nearly half of the states in the US that have passed specific laws that would immediately ban access to abortion if Roe v. Wade is revisited.