Wyoming abortion bans indefinitely struck down by Teton County judge

JACKSON — Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens struck down the two most recent attempts by the Wyoming Legislature to outlaw abortion in Wyoming.

Owens granted a permanent injunction Monday for the “Life is a Human Right Act” and a medical abortion ban passed by lawmakers in the 2023 session. 

Her 35-page summary judgment order on Johnson v. State of Wyoming was filed more than a year after the first legal challenge from women, health care professionals and nonprofits supporting access to and offering abortion services.

Owens’ decision was based on the argument that the laws impeded the fundamental right laid out in the Wyoming Constitution to make health care decisions for an entire class of people: pregnant women.

“The court concludes that the abortion statutes suspend a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions during the entire term of pregnancy and are not reasonable or necessary to protect the health and general welfare of the people,” Owens stated. “The restriction begins even at the earliest stages of embryonic development, makes no distinction between a zygote and a fetus and makes no distinction between a pre-viable and viable fetus.”

She wrote that the defendants, including the governor, attorney general, sheriff of Teton County and Jackson chief of police, didn’t establish a “compelling governmental interest to exclude pregnant women from fully realizing the protections afforded by the Wyoming Constitution during the entire term of pregnancies.”

In contrast, Owens said, the plaintiffs showed through uncontested medical testimony that the bans “place unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions on the right of pregnant women to make their own health care decisions.” She also said injunctions are “appropriately issued when a threatened harm is irreparable and there is no adequate remedy at law.”

Jackson and Casper Attorneys John Robinson and Marci Bramlet, representing the plaintiffs, gave no comment Monday night.

The power to preserve abortion access in Wyoming was handed off to Owens by the Wyoming Supreme Court in April.

The high court declined to rule on the case after Owens sent over 14 questions for the justices to answer in March, citing “issues” such as not providing the necessary facts to weigh in on some of the questions.

But Owens’ ruling might not mean the end of the road for the Wyoming Supreme Court. The April 9 order from the high court said, “This Court believes a ruling from the district court could refine and narrow the issues this Court will be called upon to determine.”