Wyoming bans abortion pills | CNN



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As the fight over abortion pills rages nationally, Wyoming on Friday banned the drugs in what NARAL Pro-Choice America called a “first-of-its-kind” law, as well as enacting a near total ban on abortion.

Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill making it a criminal offense to prescribe, sell, or use “any drug for the purpose of obtaining or performing an abortion.” Violators face up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine.

The law comes into force on July 1.

Medical abortions are already included in general abortion bans in a number of states. Some states have restricted telemedicine abortion by restricting access to medical abortion.

A leading abortion rights advocate said Wyoming’s clear-cut pill ban is unique.

“There is no stone upon stone that anti-choice extremists will not leave unturned as they seek to do everything possible to ensure that abortion is banned across the country,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said Saturday. “This first-of-its-kind ban on medical abortion, like the outright ban, is just the latest proof.”

Meanwhile, federal judge in Texas may soon rule on a case seeking to revoke FDA approval for a drug used in medical abortion. The lawsuit aims to block nationwide access to mifepristone, the first of two drugs used in the trial.

If the lawsuit is successful, another 40 million women of reproductive age will lose access to the drug. NARAL. That’s in addition to the 24.5 million women of reproductive age who live in states where abortion is illegal and those “who can get pregnant but don’t identify as women,” according to NARAL.

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000. According to Guttmacher Instituteanother abortion rights advocacy group.

Legal battles over abortion have been raging across the country since last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, 1973 decision guaranteeing the right to abortion.

“Already 17 states have introduced a post-rule abortion ban,” NARAL said in a statement.

Last week, Democratic governor of California. Gavin Newsom said the state would stop working with Walgreens, a retail pharmacy chain that announced it would not sell abortion pills in 21 Republican-dominated states.

The governor of Wyoming allowed the second anti-abortion bill to become law without his signature. The broader law prohibits abortion in most circumstances and carries penalties of up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

The Life is a Human Right Act allows exceptions for incest, sexual abuse, or when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger, as well as in cases of “fatal fetal anomaly.”

“Abortion, as defined in this law, is not medical treatment,” the law says, referring to the Wyoming state constitution. “Instead of medical care, abortion is the deliberate termination of the life of an unborn child.”

The law takes effect on Sunday.

Gordon “expressed concern that this new law (HB 152) would only lead to a new lawsuit that would delay a decision on the constitutionality of Wyoming’s abortion ban,” his office said in a statement.

“The health of the individual, not politics, should guide important medical decisions, including the decision to have an abortion,” said Antonio Serrano, director of advocacy for Wyoming’s ACLU.