Wyoming legal case considers whether to let abortion law stand
Challenges to law have bounced case up and down appellate ladder
Women in Wyoming have waited patiently as the state’s court system has considered whether to let a ban on abortion stand. The legislature there passed a trigger law earlier this year to ban abortion outright in the incident that Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Abortion is already limited in Wyoming, as the only currently standing abortion clinic is in Jackson, where they provide medication options. Pro-abortion forces had attempted to establish a clinic in Casper, Wyo., this year, but it had been destroyed by arson.
The case challenging Wyoming’s abortion ban was filed in the Teton County District Court in Jackson. The judge issued an injunction, which has permitted abortion to be legal in the state. It was challenged all the way to the state supreme court, which declined to take the questions. Now it will head back to the district court, where lawyers are expected to file briefs and make arguments for each side.
The legal documents pertaining to the case are available here.
Wyoming has a history of antiabortion legislation–dating back to the 1980s. That includes Medicaid restrictions, parental consent, conscience clauses and other cumbersome clinical reporting requirements. The attempts had largely been incremental–or piecemeal attempts to chip away at abortion rights. Now it’s an outright attempt to eliminate abortion altogether as a medical option for pregnant women who don’t want to carry to term.
Sharon Breitweiser, executive director for Pro-Choice Wyoming, explained how her side is looking at the current situation.
“I suspect we will see a lot of attempts to continue to further restrict abortion in the state,” Breitweiser said. “But we don't have a crystal ball.”
Breitweiser said that the situation was complicated by the state’s earlier attempts to put an amendment on the ballot that was called Right of Healthcare Access. It was designed to be an attempt to thwart Obamacare, but the way it was written could be construed and interpreted to protect abortion access.
“People came up to me and said, ‘Do they realize they just put an amendment on to make access to abortion (legal)?’” Breitweiser said. “And I'm like, ‘Oh, that's my reading of it.’ So now, of course, they're going, ‘Oh, no, no, no, that's not what we meant. No reasonable person would think that applies to abortion.’”
Breitweiser said they have sought to put a bill on the ballot that would allow abortion access. They would need 30,000 signatures, with a certain proportion from every county the voters lived in. She compared their struggle with that which Kansans had earlier in 2022.
“It doesn't just happen,” Breitweiser said. “But yeah, that's kind of where we are.”