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An initiative petition calling for a statewide vote on whether to outlaw abortion is unconstitutional, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In a two-page ruling, the state's highest court said the decision runs afoul of a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving abortion-related statutes in Pennsylvania and that the state Supreme Court "is not free to impose its own view of the law." The unanimous ruling says the petition is "facially unconstitutional" and that the state Supreme Court is duty bound by the United States and Oklahoma constitutions to 'follow the mandate of the United States Supreme Court on matters of federal constitutional law.'" The ruling is similar to one handed down by the state Supreme Court in 2012 that invalidated a so-called "personhood" initiative petition that called for a constitutional amendment to define a fertilized human egg as a person; the court cited the same 1992 decision. Thomas Russell Hunter of Norman, who filed Initiative Petition 406 in January, said he was not surprised by the court's decision. Among other things, the petition would declare that anyone who performs an abortion would be guilty of a homicide. Organizers needed almost 124,000 signatures to have the issue appear on the statewide ballot during the Nov. 8 general election. Hunter said the court's decision disqualified the petition before a single signature had been collected. "They ruled with precedent instead of constitutionality in mind," he said, adding that he thinks the ruling usurps the constitutional authority of state legislatures to make laws that protect life and property. "The courts in this country make laws." Hunter said. A separate petition for which the group Abolish Abortion Oklahoma has collected about 30,000 signatures urges the Oklahoma Legislature to place the anti-abortion initiative petition on the ballot. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma challenged the initiative petition in February, claiming that outlawing abortion violates the U.S. and Oklahoma constitutions. The proposal would have limited a woman's right to make reproductive decisions, ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel said Tuesday. "It's abundantly clear that any measure that interferes with a woman's reproductive rights, including the legal right to have access to abortion, is unconstitutional," Kiesel said.