Wyoming Judge Strikes Down Abortion Bans Using a 2012 Constitutional

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Now that the elections are over, Wyoming has taken center stage on “reproductive rights,” thanks to a Monday District Court ruling on two state abortion bans.

Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens blocked Wyoming’s two abortion bans Monday, saying abortion is health care and the Wyoming Constitution protects a woman’s right to the procedure.

The plaintiffs brought numerous constitutional challenges to the ban but one showing of unconstitutionality is enough, Owens wrote in her summary judgment order.

The Wyoming Constitution says each competent adult has a right to make his or her own health care decisions.

That’s a provision the state’s voters enacted in 2012, in response to an Obama-era health insurance program, colloquially called “Obamacare.”

Regardless of what the voters intended with that constitutional amendment, it now protects abortion.

Owens was appointed by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) in December of 2021. The two restrictive laws on abortion, HB152, the “Life is a Human Right Act,” and SF109, “Prohibiting chemical abortions,” were passed by the Wyoming Legislature in 2023 and signed into law by Gov. Gordon. In March of 2023, Owens granted a temporary restraining order to the laws’ implementation, and this was appealed by the defendants to the Wyoming Supreme Court. When additional intervenors requested to join the litigation, the Wyoming Supreme Court denied the request, and the case was returned to Owens. In Owens’ Monday ruling, she decided that a living, breathing human being trumps 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, such as a zygote, that has only the potential of life, can trump the fundamental right of a living, breathing, pregnant woman to make her own medical decisions.”

Gov. Gordon says the state plans to appeal this ruling.

“I have directed the Attorney General to review the opinion and prepare an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court,” wrote Gordon in a Tuesday statement. He declined a phone interview, via his spokesman.

Gordon further defended the integrity of the state’s abortion bans.

“Judge Owen’s (sic) ruling is frustrating, still this is just one of the steps in the judicial process,” says his statement. “Regardless of her decision, it was clear there would be an appeal. I remain committed to defending the constitutionality of this law and the sanctity of life.”

Owens’ ruling ultimately centered around the Democrat and Left’s argument that abortion is part of “reproductive care.” Refusing the humanity and personhood of the fetus, while upholding the right of the mother to choose the so-called care that she wants and deserves.

“The Court finds that ‘health care’ includes professional services for medicated and surgical abortions whether the pregnant woman is physically well or unwell,” wrote Owens. She rebutted the Legislature’s findings that abortion is not health care, saying legislative findings are useful but not binding.

She cited other areas of Wyoming law defining health care, and she ultimately rejected Wyoming Attorney General Deputy Jay Jerde’s argument that abortion is not health care because pregnancy is not a disease.

Therein lies the rub. Pregnancy is treated as if it is a disease or a pre-existing condition. Medical ethicists are, sadly, still having this debate amongst themselves, and insurance companies play along, with higher rates imposed on women of childbearing years, coupled with the spotty support for midwifery and home births. So, it is no surprise that the abortion lobby uses this loophole to lump abortion into healthcare, and with the mantra of “my body, my choice,” they continue to conflate a denial of the right to kill your child as a denial of healthcare.

This is part of the problem with battling the argument with lawfare. While lawmakers and lobbyists continue to treat it as though it is some invasive disease or a manifest right, the back-and-forth battle will continue to be waged. Wyoming has an extensive network of pregnancy resource centers that encourage and reinforce a culture of life. As Sen. and Vice President-elect JD Vance said during the October Vice Presidential debate:

I think that what I take from that as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us. That’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do. I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.

A community that honors family and embraces life has no reason to abort their children.