A Wyoming judge has temporarily halted the state’s ban on abortion pills, which was scheduled to go into effect on July 1.
Judge Melissa Owens of Teton County, who was appointed by the state’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, ruled on Thursday that the attorneys representing Wyoming failed to demonstrate that the ban would not harm the plaintiffs before their lawsuit is resolved.
Wyoming is the only state that has specifically prohibited abortion pills, whereas other Republican-led states have included medication abortions in their broader abortion restrictions.
The lawsuit challenging the ban was filed collectively by four women, two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations, including the Wellspring Health Access abortion clinic in Wyoming.
Owens found that the plaintiffs have shown a strong likelihood of success in their case. As a result, the pill will remain accessible to women for now while the legal challenge unfolds.
During the court proceedings, arguments were made involving a state constitutional amendment enacted in 2012. This amendment, which was a response to the Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare—states that Wyoming residents have the right to make their own health care decisions.
“Medical services are involved, but getting an abortion for reasons other than health care, it can’t be a medical decision,” Jerde argued in court.
However, Owens disagreed, saying that pregnancy itself involves pain and sickness.Jerde countered that women do not seek abortions for those reasons. But the attorneys representing the pro-abortion plaintiffs later questioned how the state could determine the motivations of women seeking abortions.
Wyoming enacted a complete abortion ban in March. However, that ban is not enforceable while the legal challenge unfolds. Currently, abortions are legal in the state up until the unborn child is viable at around 24 to 26 weeks.
Abortion Pills
Owens consolidated two lawsuits and suspended Wyoming’s law that effectively banned almost all abortions in the state. The second lawsuit, against the state’s near-total ban, was filed by the same group of plaintiffs.Prior to the ban, there was one other clinic in Wyoming that offered pill abortions, located in Jackson, approximately 250 miles away.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mifepristone, an abortion pill, would be widely accessible while an ongoing legal battle over its regulatory approval continues. The Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000. It is used in combination with another drug called misoprostol to terminate pregnancies of up to 10 weeks.
The pill is also sometimes used for women experiencing miscarriages. Medication abortions, also known as chemical abortions, account for more than half of all abortions in the United States.
Wyoming became the first state to pass a law explicitly banning abortion pills when the governor, Gordon, signed the legislation. However, 13 states have enacted blanket abortion bans that include medical abortions, and 15 states already had limited access to the pills, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Owens has now blocked three abortion bans signed into law by Gordon. Owens serves Sublette and Fremont counties, which are predominantly Republican, as well as Teton County, which is known for its wealth and is not seen by many Wyoming residents as representative of the state.
