There is a fight over abortion rights in the United States. Now a first state is preventing abortion by pill – a USA-wide ban could soon follow.

Wyoming became the first state to ban the prescription and distribution of abortion pills amid the fight for a comprehensive abortion ban in the US. At the signing of an executive order Friday, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon urged lawmakers to go one step further: He wants to include a total abortion ban in the state constitution and then put it to voters for a vote.

A federal court in Texas is currently considering a US-wide ban on the most common abortion pill, mifepristone. Abortion advocates are concerned about the trial because arch-conservative Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision could have huge repercussions. Mifepristone is used in more than one in two abortions in the United States. Federal judge Kacsmaryk, appointed by ex-President Donald Trump, could now overturn her approval.

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One of the most controversial issues in the US

The government of US President Joe Biden had already warned against such a decision at the beginning of March. “This move would be devastating for women,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. The US government is working to “be prepared for any possible outcome”.

The restrictive developments in several US states are in no way consistent with the majority opinion in the US. In a nationwide poll last summer, almost two-thirds of Americans supported allowing women to have legal – and therefore safe – abortions.

A woman protests for abortion rights and women's physical self-determination in front of the Capitol in Washington DC:
A woman protests for abortion rights and women’s physical autonomy in Washington DC: It has become one of the most controversial issues in the US. (Those: IMAGO/Svet Jacqueline)

Due to mostly conservative and Christian fundamentalist currents, abortion rights in the USA have become one of the most controversial and contested socio-political issues in recent years. The country’s Supreme Court abolished the country’s fundamental right to abortion last June – a ruling that triggered a political earthquake.

The Supreme Court’s decision gave states the right to massively restrict or ban abortion. Many conservative states have already done so.

Mifepristone, known in Germany under the trade name Mifegyne, is used in the USA in combination with the drug misoprostol for abortions. Many women prefer a medical abortion to an invasive procedure. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion rights, 15 states already restrict access to mifepristone by requiring only a doctor to administer it there.

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