Wyoming on Friday became the first state in the nation to specifically ban abortion pills, as a Republican governor Mark Gordon signed a law prohibiting “prescribing, dispensing, distributing, selling or using any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.”
“My promise to protect the unborn child has been fulfilled,” the state senator said. Tim Salazarthe sponsor of the legislation, wrote on social media on Friday, noting that virtually all abortions in Wyoming are medical abortions.
The law, which takes effect in July, carries up to six months in jail, up to $9,000 in fines and includes limited exceptions, including the use of such drugs to treat ‘natural miscarriages’ . In addition to Friday’s abortion pill ban, Gordon — one of several GOP governors to sign a “trigger ban” on abortion after the Supreme Court ruling Dobbs decision last year – allowed another bill restricting abortion to pass without his signature, although he warned the legislation could be stalled in a court battle. “I understand the Legislature’s efforts to improve Wyoming’s pro-life legal framework and preemptively clarify some of these legal issues,” Gordon wrote in a letter to the Wyoming secretary of state. Chuck Gray. “However, I believe this issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible so that the issue of abortion in Wyoming can finally be resolved.”
Medical abortion has been at the forefront of the fight for reproductive health care since the overturning of the Supreme Court ruling Roe vs. Wade last June. The Biden administration has sought to expand access to abortion pills to restore access to abortion in states where the procedure has been banned or severely restricted. The anti-choice movement and its Republican allies, meanwhile, have made drugs — which account for more than half of abortions in America — their next target. Indeed, Republicans pressured Walgreens and other pharmacies not to deliver abortion pills in the mail and observed state bans on the drugs, while anti-abortion groups in far-right are challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used. to terminate pregnancies. Texas judge Matthew J. Kacsmarykan extremist donald trump named person, heard oral argument in this matter earlier this week and a decision is expected shortly.
Limiting access to abortion pills, as Wyoming is now doing, could have dramatic implications for reproductive health care in America. “A person’s health, not politics, should guide important medical decisions, including the decision to have an abortion,” Antonio Serrano, director of advocacy at the ACLU of Wyoming, said in a statement Friday. “Governor. Gordon’s decisions…are disappointing, but the fight for abortion rights in Wyoming is not over. We will continue to challenge efforts that violate our right to make our own health care decisions. reproductive health.
