Wyoming judge strikes down abortion, pill bans

Abortion rights protester crosses the street in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

(Image credit: Natalie Behring / Getty Images)

published 19 November 2024

What happened

A Wyoming judge struck down two state abortion bans Monday, including the nation's first explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy. Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens said the laws, passed in 2022 and 2023, violated the state constitution's guarantee that adults can make their own health care decisions.

The bans on abortion generally and medication abortion specifically "impede the fundamental right to make health care decisions for an entire class of people, pregnant women," Owens said, and they "are not reasonable or necessary to protect the health and general welfare of the people." Wyoming voters overwhelming enshrined the right to make personal health care decisions in a 2012 constitutional amendment passed "amid fears of government overreach following approval of the federal Affordable Care Act," The Associated Press said.

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Owens had temporarily halted the abortion bans while she considered the merits of the case, and her decision yesterday "blocks the laws permanently," The New York Times said, "although the state is expected to appeal." The Wyoming Supreme Court handed Owens the "power to preserve abortion access in Wyoming" in April, the Jackson Hole News & Guide said, and it's likely to step back in for the final word.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.