Reproductive Rights in Wyoming

What You Need to Know about Reproductive Rights in Wyoming.

BLOCKED! (for now)

Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell, sitting in Natrona County District Court, on April 21 paused the surgical abortion facilities requirements and the ultrasound/48 hour waiting period requirements for medication abortion.

The legislature continued to make abortions tortuously difficult and hound providers with irrelevant regulations under the two laws passed in the most recent session.

Campbell is a retired Laramie County District Judge.

The judge wrote, “The State “fail[ed] to link the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) requirements to women’s safety and general welfare” and “[ambulatory surgical center] compliance demands meeting a variety of arguably burdensome medical and constructional conditions and obtaining separate licensure.”

Campbell likewise found no basis for the ultrasound requirement, noting also that “a period of reflection…serves no legitimate purpose.”

The injunction comes a week after the state’s Supreme Court heard arguments in a separate civil case challenging two other laws that amount to a near total ban on the procedure.

He concurred with Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in her finding last year that two near-total abortion bans violate the state constitution.

Campbell wrote, “As Judge Owens found, the ability to make healthcare decisions is a fundamental right, as it was directly written into the State Constitution.”

Wyoming Constitution

This is what the constitution says:

Section 1, Article 38

(a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions. The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.

(b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so.

(c) The legislature may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions on the rights granted under this section to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.

(d) The state of Wyoming shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.

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Want to know more? Check out these resources:

ACLU of Wyoming - general site

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains - general site

Planned Parenthood, Fort Collins

825 S Shields St.

970-493-0281

Pro-Choice Wyoming - general site

Pro-Choice Wyoming - donate here

Wellspring Health Access- general site