Editor's note: Subsequent to press time March 5, 2025, the Wyoming House voted to override Gov. Mark Gordon's veto of HB 64 in a 45-16 vote, and the Senate voted 22-9 to override the Governor’s veto.
Abortion regulation remains a hot button issue in Wyoming as abortion proponents in and out-of-state sue to keep the state’s sole abortion provider in operation and the state’s governor alternately signed and vetoed pro-life regulations.
On February 27, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed House Bill 42 into law, which went into effect immediately. The next day, the abortion facility and other abortion groups sued in opposition to the law. The law requires abortion facilities that provide surgical abortion be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers, and that includes having a physician with admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 10 miles away.
Abortion on hold in Wyoming
Wyoming’s only abortion facility, Wellspring Health Access, located in Casper, provides both chemical and surgical abortions. The abortion center was opened almost three years ago by an out-of-state group and because the new law signed by Gordon went into effect immediately, it ceased to offer surgical and chemical abortions, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Wellspring is supported by pro-abortion individuals and organizations, such as Chelsea’s Fund, which subsidizes abortion for women. This pro-abortion group has also supported Wellspring in its litigations against the state of Wyoming.
Wyoming became the firt U.S. state to ban chemical abortion in 2023, however, this past November a Wyoming 9th District Court judge sided with Wellspring and Chelsea’s Fund, striking down that law and another pro-life laws passed in 2024. The state appealed that decision to the State Supreme Court.
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The pro-abortion activists sued the state regarding the recent legislation regulating surgical abortion signed by Gordon. The law is now before Natrona County District Court.
“They want a decision from the district court [on the new law] by Friday,” Marti Halverson, president of Wyoming Right to Life, told Pregnancy Help News. “Just the Pill has joined the lawsuit in Natrona County District Court. We’re waiting until Friday to see what’s going on there.”
Just the Pill is an on-line non-profit that sells chemical abortion pills, including to Wyoming residents.
House Bill 42 that the governor signed was “passed very easily” in the state legislature, Halverson said. Nine members of the State House signed on as sponsors, as did five state senators.
Gordon vetoes ultrasound requirement bill
A similar bill came to the governor’s desk last year; however, he vetoed it because the bill also had a requirement for an ultrasound prior to an abortion being performed. This year, the legislature stripped out that language and brought the ultrasound requirement as a separate bill, mandating that women have an ultrasound 48 hours prior to having a chemical abortion. Gordon vetoed that measure, House Bill 64, this week.
In his veto letter, Gordon expressed concern over the possibility that the likely method of transvaginal ultrasound could result in further trauma for victims of sexual abuse, and said that in lieu of an ultrasound requirement before an abortion the state should make it easier for women in Wyoming to have babies and support them afterward. Gordon stressed in the letter that he is pro-life.
Wyoming Right to Life believes the state legislature could override Gordon’s veto. More than 75 percent of members of both chambers voted in favor of the bill, according to a Wyoming Right to Life email sent to supporters after the veto.
“We are rallying our pro-life troops in both the House and the Senate regarding the veto,” Halverson told Pregnancy Help News. “House Bill 64 passed both chambers with veto-proof majority. So, we are confident that the legislature will override Governor Gordon’s veto.”
Right to Life group: Surgical abortions need oversight
Halverson believes the ambulatory requirement legislation (HB 42) is a good law to protect women.
“A surgical abortion is just that – it is a surgery,” Halverson said. “It is invasive, and it is, by any definition of the word, surgery, and it needs to be performed in a facility which is surveyed by our Department of Health and is a surgery center, not just a doctor’s office.”
Halverson said she’s been told Wellspring flies a physician into Casper once a week to perform surgical abortions, and that the doctor is licensed in Wyoming.
“We haven’t seen any evidence of that [however],” she stated. “And that’s part of the stipulation – a physician must have admitting privileges at a local hospital simply for the continuity of care.”
As far as she knows, this doctor that Wellspring says comes to Casper has no admitting privileges at the local hospital, Halverson said.
Wyoming State Representative Martha Lawley, a Republican from House District 27, was a sponsor of the surgucal abortion regulation law signed by Gordon Feb. 27.
“HB 42 provides commonsense safety regulations for surgical abortions by requiring that surgical abortions facilities meet the same requirements of any ambulatory surgery centers,” Lawley told Pregnancy Help News. “This is about protecting the health and safety of women who chose to have a surgical abortion in Wyoming.”
Tweet This: HB 42 provides commonsense safety regulations for surgical abortions. This is about protecting the health and safety of women in Wyoming.
Significant increase in abortions at Casper facility
Wellspring’s abortion clients are not only from Wyoming but also from surrounding states which have enacted abortion restrictions with more success, such as South Dakota and Nebraska.
The abortion facility’s founder and president said recently that the number of clients visiting the facility rose by 214% from 2023 to 2024, due in part to out-of-state traffic, according to a report from Wyoming Public Radio.
At press time Wyoming pro-life advocates were awaiting whether the Natrona County District Court would take up the lawsuit by Friday, March 7, and what that decision would be.
