Abortion Remains Legal in Wyoming Following Landmark Ruling

A Wyoming judge ruled that two state laws restricting and banning abortion violate the state constitution. For now abortion remains legal in Wyoming up to the point of fetal viability.  

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens issued an injunction against the laws, citing the state constitution’s guarantee of personal autonomy in medical decisions. Owens stated that the laws known as the Life Act and the Medication Abortion Ban, prevent pregnant women from making their own healthcare choices.  

According to Owens these laws placed restrictions on abortion from the earliest stages of pregnancy, without distinguishing between a zygote and a fetus or between a previable and viable fetus. She called the laws “unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions” that violate women’s rights to make their own medical decisions.  

“The Court finds these laws suspend a woman’s right to decide her healthcare throughout pregnancy and are neither reasonable nor necessary to protect public health,” Owens wrote.  

The ruling may be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.  

Wyoming’s governor and attorney general have not commented on the decision.  

The state had passed strict abortion laws, including a near-total ban in March 2023 and a trigger ban activated after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. This marks the third time Owens has blocked Wyoming’s abortion restrictions.  

One plaintiff in the case, Wellspring Health Access, operates Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic. The clinic opened in 2022 despite being targeted in an arson attack before its scheduled launch.  

The decision is another setback for anti-abortion groups. In the 2024 elections, voters in seven out of ten states approved ballot measures protecting abortion rights in their constitutions.