Wyoming judge halts abortion law as legal challenge proceeds

Summary bullets

A Wyoming judge has blocked enforcement of a new state abortion restriction while a lawsuit challenging the law proceeds, according to a court order issued Friday. Natrona County District Judge Dan Forgey granted a temporary restraining order against the measure that would prohibit abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected.

Forgey’s ruling comes after Wyoming’s Supreme Court struck down sweeping abortion and abortion pill bans in January, finding that earlier restrictions violated the Wyoming Constitution. MSI previously reported that the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that the state’s voter-approved constitutional amendment gives competent adults the right to make their own health care decisions. MSI previously reported that the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down sweeping abortion and pill bans.

In his order, Forgey said the newest law—passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Gov. Mark Gordon in March—was likely to be overturned on similar grounds. The law would ban abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, a point that supporters say can be identified early in pregnancy.

Wyoming’s sole abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access, and other challengers welcomed the temporary restraining order after previously securing the blanket abortion bans’ invalidation. Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said the ban had “greatly reduced our ability to provide care to people in Wyoming” for nearly two months, according to a statement she provided.

The legal and political fight over abortion in Wyoming has intensified since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending a nationwide constitutional right to abortion. Since then, court battles over state bans and restrictions have increasingly turned on whether the measures comply with state constitutional provisions.

Four states—according to the AP report—have abortion bans that begin either around six weeks of gestation or when cardiac activity can be detected: Iowa, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The AP also reported that 13 states were enforcing bans covering all stages of pregnancy, with rare exceptions.

Gordon said Wyoming should be able to uphold the new restriction by proving a “compelling interest to protect human life,” according to remarks included in an emailed statement. He also called for lawmakers to pass a state constitutional amendment banning abortion that would go to voters.

Wyoming’s latest ruling blocks the law’s enforcement in the meantime, leaving the case’s final outcome to the courts. The temporary order is the first court ruling affecting the legal status of abortion in Wyoming since the Supreme Court’s January decision, the AP said.