Wyoming became the first US state on Friday to ban the abortion pill, in another victory for conservatives who want to roll back access to abortion in the United States. The governor of Wyoming (west), Mark Gordon, called on lawmakers to go further and include a total ban on abortion in the constitution of this state and submit it to the vote of voters.
The decision comes at a time when many abortion opponents are seeking to ban the abortion pill nationwide, after the Supreme Court's decision last year to bury the right to abortion at the federal. Since then, fifteen states have decided to ban all pregnancy terminations on their soil.
A decision on this subject is also expected soon in the Amarillo court in Texas where an ultra-conservative federal judge must render a decision on a possible federal ban on mifepristone (RU 486). This pill, the most widely used for medical termination of pregnancy, was authorized in 2000 by the United States Drug Administration (FDA).
Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk could order it to be taken off the market nationwide. Texas lawmakers are also considering a proposal that would not only ban abortion pills, but also require state internet providers to block access to sites where these pills are sold by mail order.
Mark Gordon, the governor of Wyoming, has declared that he does not intend to back down in his fight against abortion. "I believe that all life is sacred and that every individual, including unborn children, should be treated with dignity and compassion," Mark Gordon said Friday evening.
Since the Supreme Court of the United States in June last year granted freedom to legislate to each state, about fifteen of them have limited access to mifepristone by requiring that a doctor provide it, according to the Guttmacher Institute research center which defends the right of women to have an abortion.
If the Texas federal judge rules for a nationwide ban on the abortion pill, abortion rights groups say it will have as big an impact as last year's Supreme Court ruling.
