A judge in Wyoming was expected to decide, as soon as this week, whether to strike down, affirm or hold a trial over the state's abortion bans, including its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy.
Also, in Idaho, an Ada County judge said on Thursday he would decide within the next month whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by four women and two physicians against the state of Idaho challenging the scope of the medical exceptions in the state’s abortion ban.
Meanwhile, a coalition of businesses said that ambiguities in Texas’s abortion ban are making it harder for businesses in the state to recruit workers.
Several U.S. states have de facto bans, but Wyoming's explicit ban on abortion medication would be the first of its kind in the country.
The decision will more than likely be appealed to the state Supreme Court, and that is expected to set up yet another statewide showdown over abortion regulations.
Questions about abortion pill's future as Supreme Court hearing looms
The last time abortion went before the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, which was considered precedent, was overturned.
In Idaho, several women and physicians have filed a lawsuit challenging the state's near-total ban on abortion.
Similar to Texas, Idaho only permits abortions in the case of medical emergencies, but the lawsuit states that the "so-called exceptions simply do not function as such in practice."
Idaho's attorney general has called for the case to be dismissed.
In Texas, at least 51 businesses signed an amicus brief supporting the expansion of medical exceptions to the state's abortion ban rules.
Companies like Bumble, SXSW, and several restaurants, law firms and real estate groups said the Texas ban is costing the state economy money, to the tune of $14.5 billion dollars each year.
The online dating company Bumble said in a statement announcing its support that it stands against the regression of women's rights. The case in question, Zurawski v. Texas, seeks to expand and clarify the medical emergency exception to abortion bans.
