A state judge on Monday struck down Wyoming’s blanket abortion ban and its first explicit ban in the nation. ban on using drugs to terminate pregnancy in line with voters in a growing number of states who have expressed support for abortion rights.
Since 2022, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has ruled three times consistently to block laws while they were challenged in court.
The decision marks another victory for abortion rights advocates after voters in seven states. adopted measures to promote access.
A Wyoming law that Owens says violates women’s rights under the state constitution prohibits abortion except to protect the life of a pregnant woman or in cases of rape and incest. The other made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, although other states have instituted de facto bans on these drugs by broadly banning abortion.
The laws were challenged by four women, including two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations. One of the groups, Wellspring Health Access, opened as the state’s first full-service abortion clinic in years in April 2023 following a 2022 arson attack.
“This is a wonderful day for the citizens of Wyoming – and for women everywhere who should have control of their own bodies,” Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, said in a statement.
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Recent elections saw Missouri voters clear the way for overturning one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans, part of a string of victories for abortion rights advocates . Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected similar constitutional amendments, leaving the bans in place.
Abortion rights amendments have also been adopted in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana. Nevada voters also approved a pro-abortion rights amendment, but they will need to vote on it again by 2026 for it to take effect. Another law prohibiting discrimination based on “pregnancy outcome” prevailed in New York.
The abortion landscape saw a seismic shift in 2022 when the The United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wadea decision that ended the nation’s right to abortion and paved the way for bans to go into effect in most Republican-controlled states.
Currently, 13 states have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four have bans that take effect approximately six weeks after the pregnancy begins, often before women become pregnant. realize that they are pregnant.
Almost all of the bans have been challenged in court. Courts have blocked enforcement of some restrictions, including bans during pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming. The justices struck down the bans in Georgia and North Dakota in September 2024. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled the following month that the ban could be enforced in those countries while it considered the case.
In the Wyoming case, the women and nonprofits who challenged the laws argued that the bans risked harm to their health, well-being and livelihoods, assertions disputed by the state lawyers. They also argued the bans violated a 2012 constitutional amendment that competent Wyoming residents have the right to make their own health care decisions.
As with previous decisions, Owens found merit in both arguments. Banning abortion “will undermine the integrity of the medical profession by crippling the ability of doctors to provide evidence-based medicine to their patients,” Owens ruled.
Abortion laws interfere with women’s fundamental right to make health care decisions for an entire class of people — those who are pregnant — in violation of the constitutional amendment, Owens ruled.
Wyoming voters approved the amendment, fearing government overreach following approval of the federal Affordable Care Act and its initial requirements for people to have health insurance.
The state’s lawyers argued that health care, under the amendment, did not include abortion. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, whose administration has championed laws passed in 2022 and 2023, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Monday.
Both sides wanted Owens to rule on the lawsuit challenging the abortion bans rather than allowing it to go to trial in the spring. A three-day trial before Owens had already been set, but will no longer be necessary with this decision.
