Mark Gordon, the 33rd governor of Wyoming, signed a bill prohibiting the use of abortion pills into law on March 17; the ban went into effect the same day. As per The Independent, the state’s two-page measure prohibits “prescribing, dispensing, distributing, selling, or using any medication to procure or accomplish an abortion.” The bill excludes emergency contraceptive drugs, which will continue to be available to citizens.
This new law eliminates any therapy required to protect a woman “from an imminent threat that endangers her life or health considerably,” as well as “natural miscarriage according to generally established medical recommendations.” As a criminal misdemeanor, breaking the statute is punished by up to nine thousand dollars in fines and six months in jail. The new rule states that a woman who undergoes or attempts a chemical abortion will not be criminally prosecuted.
Governor Mark Gordon announced that he was also permitting the passage of a different state law that forbids traditional abortions save in circumstances of rape or incest, as agreed by legislators. This legislation was passed without his signature. If doctors determine that the fetus has a fatal defect, they may also elect to terminate the pregnancy.
“This first-of-its-kind restriction on pharmaceutical abortion and the entire prohibition are merely the most recent evidence. It does not matter to anti-choice Republicans if actual individuals are injured; they just worry about outlawing all abortions everywhere.”
A federal court in Texas is currently reviewing a national ban on the abortion drug mifepristone in response to a complaint by anti-abortion groups. The new legislation in Wyoming is the latest effort by the right to ban medicinal abortions. The most common abortion technique in the United States is a combination of two pills containing mifepristone and another medicine.
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the judgment that guaranteed the right to abortion for nearly half a century, pharmaceutical abortions were the preferred method for ending a pregnancy.
States are now responsible for regulating abortion beginning in June 2022, and the situation has changed dramatically. Thirteen states presently prohibit abortions at any stage of pregnancy, and Georgia is the only remaining state to do so after the heartbeat is visible or approximately six weeks after conception.
Courts in Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming have halted the enforcement of abortion bans or severe restrictions. Idaho has been ordered to allow abortions in cases of medical emergencies.
