A Judge in Wyoming has issued a ruling that allows abortion pills to remain legal in the state, at least for the time being. This means that the state’s groundbreaking law, which aimed to ban access to medical abortion medication, will not take effect on July 1st as originally planned. The ruling was made by Judge Melissa Owens of Teton County.
Wyoming recently became the first state in the US to specifically prohibit abortion pills. Prior to this, many states indirectly banned the medication by imposing restrictions on abortion procedures.
The Judge decided to stay the implementation of the abortion ban because attorneys representing Wyoming failed to demonstrate that enforcing the ban would not harm the plaintiffs involved in an ongoing lawsuit. Two nonprofit organizations, including an abortion clinic based in Casper, along with four women, including two obstetricians, have filed a lawsuit challenging the law banning abortion pills. They requested the judge to suspend the ban while their case is being heard.
Additionally, the plaintiffs are also suing to block another newly passed law in Wyoming that imposes a near-total ban on abortion. Judge Owens has consolidated the two lawsuits against the new restrictions into a single case. Earlier this year, she had already halted the state’s general abortion ban shortly after it was enacted in March.
These two new laws were enacted following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in June of the previous year. The Roe v. Wade decision had safeguarded women’s right to abortion for nearly 50 years. Since then, around 25 million women and teenagers have faced stricter regulations on terminating pregnancies or have been subjected to near-total bans on the procedure, even when it is medically necessary.
In March 2023, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed into law the first explicit ban on abortion pills in the United States. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, medical abortions, which involve a combination of mifepristone and another drug, have become the most prevalent form of abortion in the country. While 13 states have blanket bans on all forms of abortion, including abortion pills, 15 other states have restricted access to medical abortions.
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