With the election now over, Wyoming is at the center of the reproductive rights issue in two states thanks to a district court ruling on Monday. Abortion bans.
Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens on Monday blocked Wyoming’s two abortion bans, saying abortion is health care and the Wyoming Constitution protects a woman’s right to have the procedure.
The plaintiffs brought numerous constitutional challenges to the ban, but proof of unconstitutionality was sufficient, Owens wrote in her summary judgment.
The Wyoming Constitution states that every competent adult has the right to make their own health care decisions.
That’s a provision the state’s voters passed in 2012 in response to an Obama-era health insurance program known colloquially as “Obamacare.”
Regardless of what voters intended with this constitutional amendment, it now protects abortion.
Owens was appointed by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon (R) in December 2021. The two restrictive laws on the subject of abortion, HB152the “Life is a human rights law” and SF109Chemical Abortion Ban was passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2023 and signed into law by Governor Gordon. In March 2023, Owens issued a preliminary injunction implementing the laws, which the defendants appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court. When additional interveners requested to join the litigation, the Wyoming Supreme Court denied the request and the case was remanded to Owens. In Owens’ ruling Monday, she ruled that a living, breathing human being is more crucial than the formation of a being that only has the “potential of life.”
Later in the document, Owens added: “The Court cannot reconcile how a small group of prenatal cells like a zygote, which only has the potential to live, trumps the fundamental right of a living, breathing, pregnant woman to become pregnant.” “can make your own medical decisions.”
Gov. Gordon says the state plans to appeal this judgment.
“I have directed the Attorney General to review the opinion and prepare an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court,” Gordon wrote in a statement Tuesday. He declined a telephone interview through his spokesman.
Gordon also defended the integrity of state abortion bans.
“Judge Owen’s (sic) ruling is frustrating, yet this is just one of the steps in the legal process,” his statement said. “Regardless of their decision, it was clear that there would be an appeal. I remain committed to defending the constitutionality of this law and the sanctity of life.”
Ultimately, Owens’ ruling centered on the Democrats’ and left’s argument that abortion is part of “reproductive care.” The humanity and personhood of the fetus is rejected while upholding the mother’s right to choose the so-called care she wants and deserves.
“The Court finds that ‘health care’ includes professional services for medical and surgical abortions, regardless of whether the pregnant woman is physically well or not,” Owens wrote. She refuted the Legislature’s findings that abortion is not health care, saying the Legislature’s findings were useful but not binding.
She cited other areas of Wyoming law that define health care, ultimately rejecting Wyoming Assistant Attorney General Jay Jerde’s argument that abortion is not health care because pregnancy is not a disease.
Therein lies the catch. A pregnancy is treated as if it were an illness or a pre-existing condition. Unfortunately, medical ethicists are still having this debate each otherand insurance companies join in by imposing higher rates on women of childbearing age, coupled with paltry support for midwives and home births. Therefore, it is no surprise that the abortion lobby uses this loophole to frame abortion within health care and, with the mantra “My body, my choice,” continues to equate denial of the right to kill your child with denial of health care.
This is part of the problem with dealing with lawfare. While lawmakers and lobbyists continue to treat it like an invasive disease or an obvious right, the battle continues back and forth. Wyoming has an extensive network of pregnancy resource centers that promote and strengthen a culture of life. As Senator and Vice President-elect JD Vance said during the vice presidential election in October debate:
I believe that as a Republican who is proud to protect innocent life in this country, who is proud to protect the vulnerable, I conclude that my party must do a much better job of earning the trust of the American people People have come back on this matter, although frankly they just don’t trust us. That’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I strive for. I want us as the Republican Party to be family-friendly in the truest sense of the word.
A community that respects the family and embraces life has no reason to abort its children.
