Wyoming’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Blocked by State Trial Judge

Wyoming lawmakers trying to end access to abortion in the state have suffered a blow, as a state trial judge blocked enforcement of their latest measure banning the procedure.

Judge Dan Forgey, of the Wyoming District Court in the Seventh Judicial District, Natrona County, said the state can’t enforce a provision banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat pending a trial on its constitutionality. The provision imposes felony criminal and mandatory civil licensure penalties on those who provide abortions, except in very narrow circumstances.

It’s the state’s second loss this year, following a defeat at the Wyoming Supreme Court in January that rested on a 2012 state constitutional amendment giving competent adult residents a right to make their own healthcare decisions, including the right to end a pregnancy. Wyoming is among the states where lawmakers are tying to rollback abortion protections enshrined in their constitutions.

Under the state supreme court’s ruling, a pregnant person has a fundamental constitutional right to end a pregnancy in Wyoming, Forgey said April 24. Laws that restrict fundamental rights must be narrowly tailored to achieve compelling government interests.

The plaintiffs showed they’re likely to win the argument that the state can’t meet that standard, Forgey said. According to the plaintiffs, the ban substantially restricts access to abortion before six weeks—a time when many women don’t yet know they’re pregnant—and operates as a complete bar after six weeks.

The plaintiffs also showed they’ll be irreparably harmed if the ban’s allowed to remain in effect before trial because it exposes providers to criminal and administrative penalties, delays procedures for pregnant patients, compels doctors to perform invasive ultrasound examinations, and prevents telehealth pregnancy care in the state—none of which can be adequately compensated through monetary damages if the provision’s ultimately declared unconstitutional, Forgey said.

Lawmakers passed the Human Heartbeat Act in March in response to the supreme court’s decision, saying they’d considered and corrected the justices concerns about the state’s anti-abortion laws. The plaintiffs sued to invalidate the measure in late March.

Anti-abortion groups say a “heartbeat” can be detected at about six weeks gestation, while reproductive rights groups say there’s no such thing that early in a pregnancy.

The case is Johnson v. State, Wyo. Dist. Ct., No. 116148, 4/24/26.