After a wait of more than a year, a Jackson, Wyo., judge struck down two Wyoming pro-life laws, setting the course for the state to appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
On November 18, Teton County Judge Melissa Owens ruled laws passed by the Wyoming State Legislature in 2023 were unconstitutional and violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment concerning health privacy.
The language in that amendment states in part, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.” It passed by 75 percent.
According to a WyoFile report, “Republican state lawmakers pushed for the amendment in order, they said, to protect health care choices for people in Wyoming.”
In her ruling, Owens cited this constitutional amendment and said, “The Court concludes that the Abortion Statutes suspend a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions during the entire term of a pregnancy and are not reasonable or necessary to protect the health and general welfare of the people.”
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The judge’s decision focused on two laws passed by the Wyoming state legislature in 2023: House Bill 152, Life is a Human Life Act, and Senate File 109, Prohibiting Chemical Abortions. Wyoming’s governor only signed the senate measure. The house bill became law without his signature.
In 2022, the legislature passed a trigger bill, that if the federal Supreme Court found Roe v. Wade unconstitutional, Wyoming would follow the lead and restrict abortion in the state. Wyoming’s governor, Mark Gordon, signed that measure, and when it went into effect that summer, several groups and individuals filed a lawsuit. Many of the same plaintiffs sued the state over the 2023 laws.
State response to judge’s recent ruling
Owens’ ruling will likely go to the state supreme court.
In a statement issued the day after Owens’ ruling, Gov. Gordon said, “Judge Owen’s ruling is frustrating, still this is just one of the steps in the judicial process. Regardless of her decision, it was clear there would be an appeal. I remain committed to defending the constitutionality of this law and the sanctity of life. I have directed the Attorney General to review the opinion and prepare an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court. As this litigation is ongoing, I will have no further comment at this time.”
Abortion remains legal in Wyoming through viability, generally considered by physicians as 24 weeks.
Abortion rare in Wyoming for nearly 30 years
Until an abortion facility opened in Casper in 2023, abortions in the state were rare. Wellspring Health Access, operated by out-of-state interests, planned to open in 2022, however, an arson, and the damage it caused, postponed that by nearly a year. A woman was later arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for the arson.
Prior to Wellspring coming to Wyoming, the majority of women there seeking abortions traveled out-of-state, primarily to Colorado or Montan. Jackson, on the west side of the state, was the last community with a facility or doctor that advertised performing abortions, and though it closed for a time, a doctor began offering abortion in that community earlier this year.
Casper’s pro-life pregnancy medical clinic, True Care Women’s Resource Center, opened a second location, a walk-in clinic, just a block away from the abortion facility a few months after Wellspring opened its doors. True Care partnered with Sidewalk Advocates for Life, and though that walk-in clinic is on hiatus while waiting for another building even closer to the abortion facility to be ready for occupancy by the pro-life pregnancy medical clinic, walk-ins are still welcome at the original True Care building.
Pregnancy centers available to help
True Care and other Wyoming pro-life pregnancy resource centers and medical clinics remain available to women seeking help during an unplanned pregnancy, regardless of state law.
“No matter what happens with legislation, there will always be women, men, and families experiencing unplanned pregnancies,” said Jessica Baxter, president and CEO of True Care. “We have just taken our focus, our time and our energy, and devoted fully and wholly to serving her and those that are with her.”
Tweet This: No matter what happens with legislation, there will always be women, men, and families experiencing unplanned pregnancies.
To say the judge’s decision was disappointing is an understatement, Baxter told Pregnancy Help News, “but it really didn’t change a lot for us because we’ve been here for 37 years, and we will continue being here no matter what happens in the legislation.”
People need to continue praying and volunteering for pregnancy centers, she added.
“Regardless of what happens anywhere else, we are still here,” Baxter said, “on the ground, serving women every day.”
