Cheyenne, Wyoming - Wyoming's supreme court ruled Tuesday that a law banning abortion pills is illegal because it infringes on a woman's right to make decisions about her own healthcare.

The ruling is a setback for anti-abortion campaigners who have pushed to restrict reproductive rights in the wake of a US Supreme Court decision that overturned a half-century of settled law in 2022.

Republican legislators in Wyoming passed legislation in 2023 that outlawed almost all terminations, except in very narrow circumstances.

They also passed a law making it illegal to "prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion," in legislation targeting medication widely used across the country.

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The laws were put on hold when a group of plaintiffs – including medical professionals and non-profits – sued.

Upholding a previous ruling by a district judge, the state's supreme court said a four-to-one majority of its justices had found the laws ran contrary to Wyoming's constitution.

"The decision whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy is a woman’s own healthcare decision protected by Article 1, Section 38," the court wrote in an explanatory note.

"An adult’s right to make his or her own healthcare decisions is a fundamental right because of the very specific language used and because that language was put in a section of the Wyoming Constitution called the 'Declaration of Rights.'"

The ruling strikes down the 2023 laws, but notes that lawmakers are free to put the issue to electors in the future.

Wyoming's Republican Governor Mark Gordon, who signed both 2023 laws, said he was disappointed in the court ruling.

"This ruling may settle, for now, a legal question, but it does not settle the moral one, nor does it reflect where many Wyoming citizens stand, including myself," he said.

"It is time for this issue to go before the people for a vote... A constitutional amendment taken to the people of Wyoming would trump any and all judicial decisions."