Abortion Pill Ban in Wyoming Blocked Temporarily by Judge (1)

A Wyoming judge has temporarily blocked a state ban on medication abortion, allowing continued access to abortion pills.

Wyoming’s abortion pill ban, scheduled to take effect July 1, is now on hold, after a temporary restraining order issued Thursday by District Court Judge Melissa Owens of Teton County. The law will not proceed until an ongoing lawsuit is resolved.

Wellspring Health Access, the state’s first comprehensive abortion clinic, and five other co-plaintiffs filed the lawsuit after the ban was passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Mark Gordon (R) in March.

The Wyoming law would prohibit the prescription, sale, and use of abortion pills. Doctors and others would face a misdemeanor charge with penalties of up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine.

“We are grateful and relieved that medication abortion will remain legal in Wyoming,” Wellspring President Julie Burkhart said in a statement. “Medication abortion is safe, effective, and has been approved by the FDA for more than two decades.

Medication abortion pills—mifepristone and misoprostol—account for more than half of all abortions in the US, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Across the country, 15 states restrict access to the pills.

A representative of Chelsea’s Fund, a co-plaintiff providing financial support to abortion patients, said the group will “fight to the end” against any appeal attempt by the state Attorney General’s Office.

“This battle for bodily control in an individual authority over health-care decision making, privacy, separation of church and state is ongoing, and we cannot and will not stop fighting for these basic rights,” said Jacqueline Hediger, a board member from the Chelsea’s Fund.

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The case is Johnson v. Wyoming, Wyo. Dist. Ct., No. 18853, temporary restraining order 6/22/23.