Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has given the green light to a law that will ban the use of abortion pills, making the state the first in the country to veto the drugs.
The Republican politician also approved a bill that limits most abortions in the state, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger, as reported by local media.
Gordon’s decision comes as the United States awaits a Texas judge to rule on a case that will decide access to the mifepristone abortion pill nationwide.
An association of anti-abortion doctors has filed a lawsuit with Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke the drug’s approval in the country.
Mifepristone, approved by the regulatory body in 2000, has been at the center of the abortion debate in the United States in recent weeks.
In early March, drug store chain Walgreens decided not to distribute the abortion pills in states with Republican governments or where Republican officials have threatened to sue if they offer the drug.
The company’s decision came after the FDA issued a rule allowing abortion drugs to be sold in its stores.
Mifeprostone is usually used together with misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy before the end of the third month of pregnancy.
According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, abortions with these drugs accounted for 54% of abortions in the United States in the last two years.
A ruling banning the restriction of abortion pills would be one of the biggest reproductive rights disputes in this country since the US Supreme Court ruled last year that the abortion pill must be banned