Judge strikes down Wyoming abortion laws, including abortion pill ban

A Wyoming judge ruled Nov. 18 that two state laws restricting abortion — including one banning chemical or medication abortions — violated the state’s constitution and could not be enforced.

Judge Melissa Owens of Teton County District Court wrote in her ruling that the laws, one restricting most abortions in the state and another specifically prohibiting the use of an abortion-inducing drug, “impede the fundamental right to make health care decisions for an entire class of people, pregnant women.”

“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,” Owens wrote.

Wyoming enacted a near-total abortion ban in March 2023, as well as a preexisting ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling in 2022, which overturned its previous abortion precedent in Roe v. Wade.

This ruling marks the third time Owens has blocked the state’s abortion laws. It responded to a lawsuit against the state brought by Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the state’s only abortion clinic, as well as an organization that helps women access abortions, two OB-GYNs who provide abortions; and two women who say the laws have harmed them.

The ruling said the laws ran afoul of a 2012 amendment the state adopted in its constitution in protest of then-President Barack Obama’s signature health law, the Affordable Care Act. The amendment states that adults have a right to make their own health care decisions. Owens’ ruling found that while lawmakers did not define health care in that amendment, she could not find evidence that abortion would not be included in its plain meaning.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, called the ruling “frustrating” in a statement to The Cheyenne Post, but argued “this is just one of the steps in the judicial process,” and indicated there would be an appeal.

“I remain committed to defending the constitutionality of this law and the sanctity of life,” he said.

The Wyoming Democratic Party applauded the ruling in a statement to the same newspaper, arguing, “women in Wyoming have reclaimed their most basic human right — the right to control their own bodies.”

“Judge Owens’ decision affirms what we’ve been saying all along: abortion is healthcare, and women, just like men, are constitutionally guaranteed the right to make their own healthcare decisions,” the statement said.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and therefore opposes direct abortion. After the Dobbs decision, church officials in the United States have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child. They have called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

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