“I’ve heard from other people that it is for reasons like this that she has such high unfavorable ratings right now,” he said.

The New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which has successfully represented entities that have challenged prior anti-abortion legislation in the state, applauded the veto.

“Governor Fallin did the right thing today in vetoing this utterly unconstitutional and dangerous bill,” Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the organization, said in a statement.

“But the reality is countless Oklahoma women still face incredible obstacles to access safe and legal abortion when they’ve made the decision to end a pregnancy,” Northrup said. “It’s time the rest of Oklahoma’s elected officials follow Governor Fallin’s lead today and stop policing women’s most personal, private decisions about their families, their lives, and their futures.”

The chairman of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit group that had committed to defending legal challenges to the legislation, said Fallin has gone back on her word with the veto after she told the group late last year that she was behind the bill.