New law puts Wyoming at the forefront of banning abortion pills

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) — Wyoming has highlighted the state’s efforts to ban the most common type of abortion by enacting the nation’s first outright ban on abortion pills.

Medical abortions, which typically involve taking two prescription drugs one day apart at home or in a clinic, became the preferred abortion method in the US even before Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, and now accounts for more than half of all abortions. . according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Currently, more than a dozen states are effectively banning abortion pills, banning all forms of abortion. The moves come after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade last year.

Fifteen states restrict access to the pill. Of these, six — Arizona, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, and South Carolina — require a doctor to administer them personally. Arizona also banned the mailing of abortion pills.

But prior to legislation signed Friday by Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, no state had banned abortion pills. The law was passed at the same time as a new abortion ban that aims to circumvent problems with an earlier state ban that was up in court.

With the two new abortion laws, the Wyoming Legislature “sort of tried to cover all its grounds” for banning abortion, according to Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute.

Gordon allowed the new abortion ban to take effect on Sunday without his signature. Whether the ban on abortion pills he signed will go into effect on July 1 as planned remains to be seen. It can be delayed in the courts if a state abortion provider sues him. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Texas is considering a case to ban access to abortion pills nationwide.

Here’s a look at how abortion is doing in Wyoming and elsewhere:

IS ABORTION LEGAL IN WYOMING?

Yes. From Sunday, abortion in all forms is prohibited.

The only pre-ban abortion clinic in the state was in the tourist mountain town of Jackson. Another clinic in Casper was due to open last year before plans got in the way of the arson attack. The Wellspring Health Access clinic had hoped to open next month, but those plans are unclear so far.

Even before prohibition, many women in Wyoming traveled to Colorado and other places to have an abortion because it was more convenient. In Wyoming, women are not prohibited from traveling outside the state in search of abortions.

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WHY DID WYOMING TAKE SUCH AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS?

Wyoming has long been a deeply conservative state, but has often shunned attention to social issues – live and let live is the motto of rural life in the West.

This is changing. With the state legislature more dominated by Republicans than at any time in a century, leaders can delve into culture war issues with little or no resistance.

Last year, Gordon signed a ban on abortion that went into effect a month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe’s decision. Within hours, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens suspended the ban, ruling that the lawsuit that it would harm pregnant women and their doctors could be justified.

The two nonprofits and four women, including two obstetricians who sued, also argued that the ban violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to make their own health care decisions.

State attorneys said that was not the intention — the amendment was passed in response to the Affordable Care Act aimed at expanding health care coverage across the country.

This year, Wyoming state lawmakers ended the lawsuit by enacting a new blanket ban on abortion, stating that abortion is not a medical treatment and therefore not protected by the state constitution.

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WHAT DO LEGISLATORS IN OTHER STATES DO?

Most Republican-controlled states have banned abortion or tightened restrictions in anticipation that Roe v. Wade will eventually be dropped.

And last year, several Democratic-controlled states took action to protect access to abortion.

But the legislative battles did not end there.

This month, Utah passed legislation to ban abortion clinics, making it the first state to do so. This was due to the fact that the state ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy was challenged in court.

In Florida, lawmakers are trying to figure out what bans to implement. Florida had previously implemented a ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, much weaker than other GOP-controlled states; a new measure to ban them is moving through the Legislature in six weeks. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a possible 2024 presidential nominee, is expected to sign it if he gets around to it.

In South Carolina, also dominated by the Republican Party, lawmakers are debating which ban should be tried after the state’s highest court overturned the abortion ban after six weeks.

In Minnesota, where last year’s elections gave Democrats full control of the government, the governor signed legislation this year to further protect access to abortion.

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Jeff Mulvihill of Cherry Hill, New Jersey contributed to this report.

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