Wyoming Supreme Court rules laws restricting abortion violate state constitution

By Fox News · Fox News

The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a pair of laws restricting abortion access violate the state constitution, including the country’s first explicit ban on abortion pills. The court, in a 4-1 ruling, sided with the state’s only abortion clinic and others who had sued over the abortion bans passed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which returned the power to make laws on abortion back to the states. Despite Wyoming being one of the most conservative states, the ruling handed down by justices who were all appointed by Republican governors upheld every previous lower court ruling that the abortion bans violated the state constitution. Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the abortion access advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund and four women, including two obstetricians, argued that the laws violated a state constitutional amendment affirming that competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions. TRUMP URGES GOP TO BE 'FLEXIBLE' ON HYDE AMENDMENT, IGNITING BACKLASH FROM PRO-LIFE ALLIES Voters approved the constitutional amendment in 2012 in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare. The justices in Wyoming found that the amendment was not written to apply to abortion but noted that it is not their job to "add words" to the state constitution. "But lawmakers could ask Wyoming voters to consider a constitutional amendment that would more clearly address this issue," the justices wrote. Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said in a statement that the ruling upholds abortion as "essential health care" that should not be met with government interference. "Our clinic will remain open and ready to provide compassionate reproductive health care, including abortions, and our patients in Wyoming will be able to obtain this care without having to travel out of state," Burkhart said. Wellspring Health Access opened as the only clinic in the state to offer surgical abortions in…