CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) – Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law Friday night banning abortion pills in the state and also allowed a separate measure restricting abortion to become law without his signature.
In a statement, Gordon expressed concern that the latter law, dubbed the Life is a Human Right Act, would result in a lawsuit that “will delay any determination on the constitutionality of Wyoming’s anti-abortion ban.”
He noted that plaintiffs in an ongoing court case had filed a challenge to the new law earlier in the day unless he vetoed it.
“I believe this issue needs to be decided as soon as possible in order to finally resolve the abortion issue in Wyoming, and the best way to do that is by popular vote,” Republican Gordon said in a statement.
The Wyoming Governor’s Decision abortion pills comes after they took center stage in Texas this week, where a federal judge raised questions about efforts by a Christian group to reverse decades-old US approvals of a leading abortion drug, mifepristone.
In a statement, Antonio Serrano, director of advocacy for the Wyoming ACLU, criticized the governor’s decision to sign the law.
“A person’s health, not politics, should guide important medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion,” Serrano said.
A two-pill combination of mifepristone and another drug is the most common form of abortion in the United States
Medical abortions became the preferred method of terminating a pregnancy in the US long before the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade overturned the ruling that protected abortion rights for nearly five decades.
Fifteen states already have restricted access to abortion pills, including six that require an in-person doctor’s visit. These laws could stand up to court challenge; States have long had authority over how doctors, pharmacists, and other providers practice medicine.
States also set the rules for telemedicine consultations used to prescribe medication. Generally, this means that healthcare providers in states with restrictions on abortion pills face penalties such as fines or license suspension if they attempt to ship pills through the mail.
Women have already traveled across state lines to places where access to abortion pills is easier. This trend is expected to increase.
Since Roe’s reversal last June, abortion restrictions have been in the hands of states, and the landscape has changed rapidly. Thirteen states now enforce abortion bans at any stage of pregnancy, and another, Georgia, bans it as soon as cardiac activity can be detected or around the sixth week of pregnancy.
Courts have shelved enforcement of abortion bans or severe restrictions in Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. Idaho courts have forced the state to allow abortions in medical emergencies.
Source : news.yahoo.com