Wyoming Supreme Court Reviews Constitutionality of Abortion Bans

The Wyoming Supreme Court is deliberating on whether the state’s recent abortion bans, including the nation’s only explicit prohibition against medication abortion, violate the Wyoming Constitution’s protection of individual health care decisions. Central to the case is whether the constitutional right to make health care choices, established in a 2012 amendment, extends to the decision to have an abortion. State attorneys argue the amendment was intended to counter the Affordable Care Act, not to legalize abortion, and claim a pregnant woman’s choice affects both her and the unborn child. Plaintiffs contend that abortion is a fundamental health care right for women and that the bans violate personal liberty and reproductive autonomy. The justices, all appointed by Republican governors, questioned both sides about whether health care decisions should include abortion and if the laws unfairly target women. For now, abortion remains technically legal in Wyoming, but new laws and legal uncertainty have halted abortion services at the state’s only clinic.