Wyoming Supreme Court overturns state abortion ban

(CN) — Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that laws passed by the legislature to ban abortion “unjustifiably limit a woman’s state constitutional right to make her own health care decisions.”

In 2023, the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a law prohibiting abortion at all stages of pregnancy, except in cases of rape or incest that are reported to the police, or to save a woman’s life. The Legislature also passed the country’s first ban on abortion pills.

Days after the laws took effect in March 2023, the Teton County District Court put the ban on hold. The lower court judge concluded that the abortion bans conflicted with a 2012 voter referendum that amended the state’s constitution, which stated in part: “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”

Though the voter referendum responded to the then-recently passed Affordable Care Act, the judge concluded that it conflicted with the abortion ban.

On Tuesday, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled, 4-1, to uphold the lower court’s ruling.

“A woman has a fundamental right to make her own health care decisions, including the decision to have an abortion,” Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden wrote for the majority in the opinion. “The state did not meet its burden of demonstrating the abortion laws further the compelling interest of protecting unborn life without unduly infringing upon the woman’s fundamental right to make her own health care decisions.”

The state’s highest court did acknowledge a degree of ambiguity about the state Constitution, noting in a footnote that “the Legislature, however, could put the question to the people of Wyoming in the form of a constitutional amendment that clearly states what it seeks to accomplish.”

Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, the only abortion provider in the state, called the ruling “a victory for the fundamental right of people across Wyoming to make decisions about their own lives and health,” in a written statement.

Wellspring Health Access sued to block the laws and was joined in the suit by two doctors and four women.

Governor Mark Gordon, in his own written statement, called the ruling “profoundly unfortunate,” and said it would only “prolong the ultimate and proper resolution of this issue.”

“This ruling may settle, for now, a legal question, but it does not settle the moral one, nor does it reflect where many Wyoming citizens stand, including myself,” Gordon said. “It is time for this issue to go before the people for a vote, and I believe it should go before them this fall. A constitutional amendment taken to the people of Wyoming would trump any and all judicial decisions.”

In 2024, voters in one state, Nebraska, banned abortion by passing a ballot initiative. Seven states, including Montana and Missouri, passed referendums protecting abortion access.

Justice Kari Jo Gray said in a dissent that the “Constitution allows the legislature to establish ‘reasonable and necessary’ restrictions on the right to make health care decisions to protect the safety and general welfare of the people or to accomplish other purposes of the Wyoming Constitution.”

“The abortion statutes,” she added, “reflect the legislature’s policy choice of preserving prenatal life at all stages of development, but recognize exceptions in a variety of circumstances.”

Therefore, she wrote, “they constitute a reasonable and necessary restriction.”

Wyoming is one of the most conservative states in the nation, having voted to re-elect Donald Trump by a greater margin than any other, and all five of its Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican governors. Three out of five justices are women, and the court has consistently ruled in favor of protecting abortion access.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wadein 2022, 20 states have passed abortion bans, with 13 of them banning the procedure at all stages of pregnancy.

Wellspring Health Clinic opened its doors in 2023 — nearly a year later than planned, after an arson attack badly damaged the building. A woman pleaded guilty to the attack, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

“While we celebrate today’s ruling, we know that anti-abortion politicians will continue their push to restrict access to health care in Wyoming with new, harmful proposals in the state legislature," Burkhart said in her statement. “Patients should not have to live in fear that their health care decisions will be suddenly upended at the whim of a judge or lawmaker.”

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