CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill Friday night banning the abortion pill in the state and also allowing a separate measure restricting abortion into law without his signature.
The pill has been banned in 13 countries with blanket bans on all forms of abortion, and 15 countries have limited access to abortion pills. The Republican governor’s decision comes after the issue of access to the abortion pill took center stage this week in Texas courts. A federal judge is questioning a Christian group’s efforts to revoke a decades-old US approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone.
Medication abortion became the preferred method of terminating a pregnancy in the US even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that protected abortion rights for nearly five decades. The combination of two mifepristone pills and another drug is the most common form of abortion in the US
Wyoming’s ban on the abortion pill is set to go into effect in July, pending possible legal action. The implementation date of the law banning all abortions that Gordon allowed to become law was not mentioned in the bill.
In a statement, Gordon expressed concern that the latter law, called the Life is a Human Right Act would lead to lawsuits that would “delay any resolution to the constitutionality of Wyoming’s abortion ban.”
He noted that earlier in the day, the plaintiff in the ongoing lawsuit filed a challenge to the new law if he did not issue a veto.
“I believe this question must be decided as soon as possible so that the issue of abortion in Wyoming can be resolved, and that it is best done with the voice of the people,” Gordon, a Republican, said in a statement.
In a statement, Wyoming ACLU advocacy director Antonio Serrano criticized Gordon’s decision to sign a ban on the abortion pill, which is already banned in some states that have total bans on all types of abortion.
“People’s health, not politics, should guide important medical decisions – including the decision to have an abortion,” Serrano said.
Of the 15 countries with limited access to the pill, six require a private doctor’s visit. The law can withstand court challenges; The state has long had authority over how doctors, pharmacists and other providers practice medicine.
States also set rules for telemedicine consultations that are used to prescribe drugs. It generally means that health care providers in states with restrictions on abortion pills can face penalties, such as fines or license suspension, for trying to send pills through the mail.
Women have traveled across state lines to places where access to abortion pills is easier. The trend is expected to increase.
Since the reversal of Roe last June, abortion restrictions have taken hold across the country and the landscape has changed rapidly. Thirteen states currently ban abortion at any point during pregnancy, and one more, Georgia, prohibits it if cardiac activity is detectable, or at about six weeks’ gestation.
Courts have stayed enforcement of abortion bans or deep restrictions in Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. An Idaho court forced the state to allow abortions during medical emergencies.