A Wyoming judge on Monday struck down the state’s abortion law as well as a prohibition against abortion pills after finding the two laws violate women’s rights under the state constitution and therefore can not be enforced.
Monday’s ruling marks the third time since 2022 that Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has blocked the laws from going into effect while they are being challenged in court.
The measures at the center of the ruling were passed by Wyoming lawmakers in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade.
One of the measures, known as the Life is a Human Right Act, bans abortion in Wyoming except in cases where the pregnant woman’s life is at risk or in instances of rape and incest that are reported to the police.
The other law bans the prescription and distribution of medication to terminate pregnancies, also known as chemical abortions. It made Wyoming the first state in the nation to explicitly ban abortion pills, although other Republican-led states have also enacted broader abortion restrictions that include bans on medical abortions.
Both laws were subsequently challenged in court by a group of women—made up of obstetricians and two nonprofit organizations, including the Wellspring Health Access abortion clinic in Wyoming—who argued they would harm their health, well-being and livelihoods; claims that were disputed by attorneys for the state.
The women also alleged the laws violate multiple provisions of the Wyoming Constitution, including a 2012 state constitutional amendment that was approved by an overwhelming majority of the state’s voters and protects Wyoming residents’ rights to make their own health care decisions.
Lawyers for the state had argued that health care, under the amendment, did not include abortion.
In Monday’s ruling, Owens found the arguments against the two provisions had merit and that the laws place unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions on the fundamental rights of 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.
“The restriction begins even at the earliest stages of embryonic development, makes no distinction between a zygote and a fetus, and makes no distinction between a pre-viable and viable fetus,” the judge continued.
Owens found that defendants, including Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and Attorney General Bridget Hill, failed to establish a “compelling governmental interest to exclude pregnant women from fully realizing the protections afforded by the Wyoming Constitution during the entire term of pregnancies.”
The judge’s decision permanently blocks the laws from going into effect, although the state is widely expected to appeal the ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Monday’s ruling was issued after voters in seven states, including Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, and Nevada, passed measures this month expanding or supporting access to abortions.
Meanwhile, voters in three states, including Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota, opted to leave stricter abortion laws in place.
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