Update 3/17/2023: Wyoming has become the first state to prohibit the use of the abortion pill. Gov. Mark Gordon signed the law on Friday, the same day he said he would allow another pro-life law to take effect without his signature. That law would protect nearly all preborn humans in Wyoming from abortion. It also bans the use of the abortion pill. Both laws are expected to be challenged in court.
“I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state.
The law prohibiting the use of the abortion pill, which passed the state Senate in February and the state House in March, is scheduled to take effect on July 1 and would make it illegal to “prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Any doctor found guilty of violating the law could face a misdemeanor charge with up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine if convicted.
Wyoming’s sole abortion business, Women’s Health & Family Care Clinic in Jackson, currently commits abortions exclusively through the abortion pill.
2/1/2023: The Wyoming Senate passed a bill Friday that would restrict abortion pills (chemical abortions) in the state, protecting preborn children from the most common form of abortion. The bill, Senate File 109, passed with a vote of 23-6-2, and now heads to the House for consideration.
The bill would prohibit the use of generic mifepristone and misoprostol, along with name-brand Mifeprex and Mifegyne, along with any similar generic or non-generic drugs used with the intent of abortion. Any doctor or person in violation of the law faces a misdemeanor violation and up to six months in prison, a fine of up to $9,000, or both.
Sponsored by Sen. Tim Salazar, the bill marks the second time that the Senate has passed legislation limiting abortion pill use in the state. A similar bill was sent to the House last year, but once there it never advanced for consideration. Salazar noted that this year’s bill is identical to last year’s, and he also spoke to the bill’s exceptions, which allow abortions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother (though none of these exceptions are reasons to take the life of an innocent preborn child, and induced abortion is intentional killing, which is not medically necessary).
“This bill does only one thing,” Salazar said. “It prevents the use of four drugs being used for (the) sole purpose of performing an abortion. It does not prevent contraception. It prevents the prosecution of a woman who receives an abortion. It allows the treatment of miscarriage, and it allows abortion in cases of rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother.”
The abortion pill is a two-step process that involves the drugs mifepristone (Mifeprex) and misoprostol (Mifegyne). The mother first takes mifepristone, which cuts off progesterone to her baby, starving the child of nutrients. Typically 24-48 hours later, she follows it with misoprostol, which causes contractions so that she delivers her child. The abortion pill now accounts for more than half of all abortions nationwide.
“I remember the first day I was sworn in, one of the things I was asked to do was swear that I would defend the Constitution. And when I look at our U.S. and Wyoming Constitution, it’s very, very clear that the government should be involved in securing life,” said Sen. Lynn Hutchings, a co-sponsor of the bill. “That is the main reason we exist as a government and as a body, is to, first of all, secure life.”
Though Wyoming had a trigger bill that protected all preborn children from abortion following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, that law is currently blocked by the courts.
