Wyoming (USA) Governor Mark Gordon this Friday gave the green light to a law banning the use of abortion pills, making the state the first veto of such drugs in the country.
The Republican politician also approved a bill that restricts most abortions in the state except for rape, incest or life-threatening situations, local media reported.
Gordon’s decision comes as the United States awaits a Texas judge’s decision in a case that will decide national access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The Medical Association Against Abortion has filed a lawsuit before Judge Matthew Kaczmaric to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke the drug’s approval in the country.
Mifepristone in the spotlight
Mifepristone, which was approved by the regulator in 2000, has been at the center of the abortion debate in the US in recent weeks.
The drugstore chain Walgreens decided in early March that it would not distribute abortion pills in states with Republican governments or where Republican officials have threatened to sue if the drugs are offered.
The company’s decision comes after the FDA issued a regulation that would have allowed its facilities to sell abortion drugs.
Mifepristone is usually used in combination with misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy before the end of the third month of pregnancy.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, these types of medication abortions accounted for 54% of pregnancy terminations in the United States over the past two years.
The ruling, which would ban restrictions on the abortion pill, would be one of the biggest controversies over reproductive rights in this country since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year.
Source: El Diario
