A Teton County judge on Monday struck down Wyoming’s two abortion bans, ruling they violate the state constitution.
The decision by Judge Melissa Owens keeps most abortions legal in the state. She concluded a near-total ban on abortion and a prohibition against abortion medications — laws that were passed by state lawmakers in 2023 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — conflicted with a constitutional amendment passed last decade that protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions.
“The Defendants have not established a compelling governmental interest to exclude pregnant women from fully realizing the protections afforded by the Wyoming Constitution during the entire term of their pregnancies, nor have the Defendants established that the Abortion Statutes accomplish their interest,” Owens wrote. “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 had earlier put the bans on hold while considering the arguments for and against their constitutionality.
The case is expected to be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
In her decision, Owens cited a state constitutional amendment that more than 75% of Wyomingites voted for in 2012.
As a rebuke of the Affordable Care Act — a.k.a. Obamacare — Republican state lawmakers pushed for the amendment in order, they said, to protect health care choices for people in Wyoming.
The language they gave to voters to add to the Wyoming Constitution states, among other things, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”
It also states the Legislature “may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions” on the health care rights “to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.”
Plaintiffs in the case, which include women, health care providers and an aid group, maintained the constitutional amendment barred lawmakers from banning abortion — regardless of whether that was the authors’ intention.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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