by Madelyn Beck, WyoFile
It’s been about six months since closing arguments in the lawsuit challenging Wyoming‘s two abortion bans.
At the time, there were broad legislative efforts to impose more restrictions on abortion clinics and a district court request for the Wyoming Supreme Court to answer key constitutional questions in the case. Both fell short: the first was vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon and the second rejected by the high court.
As summer approaches, bans remain stalled in the courts and most abortion remains legal in Wyoming. But that leaves uncertainty as the election season heats up. For the past three years in a row, the Legislature has passed restrictions on abortion, and reproductive health is sure to be a talking point in the 2024 campaign.
For now, all eyes are on the Teton County Ninth District Court and Judge Melissa Owens.
holding pattern
Mike Leman of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne supports the two abortion bans, which include a ban on abortion-inducing drugs and a near-total ban that the Wyoming Legislature passed in 2023. For the Catholic Church deacon of St. Patrick’s Day, the long wait for Teton County’s responses are mixed.
“We understand the gravity of the court’s decision,” Leman said in an email. “On the one hand, if a hasty decision leads to a suboptimal result, it is important to be patient. On the other hand, we remember that every week the court delays a decision, more lives are intentionally destroyed right here in Wyoming.”
Marti Halverson, president of Right to Life Wyoming, isn’t sure why it’s taking so long, she said. But her organization sends questionnaires to candidates for the upcoming elections as if the bans were not in force.
“We formatted it as if the (pre-ban) abortion law was still in effect,” he said. “That is, the 1977 law, which says that abortion is legal up to the point of its viability.”
In Rock Springs, Dr. Banu Symington works at Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center. As a precaution, she advises her patients on the opposite assumption of Halverson’s surveys.
“I’m pretending that that’s already been ruled and that you can’t get an abortion in this state when I talk to my young patients about why it’s important not to accidentally get pregnant,” she said.
If they go into effect, the bans could put pregnant cancer patients in a terrible position, Symington said, because oncologists want to treat the disease right away. But fetuses younger than three months are not supposed to be exposed to chemotherapy drugs, she said. Likewise, she added, X-rays are out of the question and “now we don’t use chemotherapy for many patients, we are using many biological products that are not safe for the fetus.”
State abortion bans have exceptions to save the mother’s life, but in the case of cancer, calculating the chances of dying is unclear.
“We generally don’t delay cancer treatment, so we don’t know what unknown effect it will have on the mother’s curability or survival,” he said. “But (under the bans), we’re going to have no choice but to delay treatment until the second or third trimester…or I’ll be stuck trying to get my patients somewhere in Colorado to get abortions.”
Sitting tight
For many abortion rights advocates, the wait isn’t all that bad. Most abortions remain legal for as long as it takes to get out of district court.
“For us, no news is good news,” said Julie Burkhart, president and founder of the Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper, one of only two places where residents can get abortions in Wyoming. “We have a court order, we can see patients and so at this time, fortunately, (the court delay) has not affected our operation in any way.”
For example, employment at his clinic has not been hindered, Burkhart said, as it surpasses its first full year of operation. The clinic has even expanded to offer telehealth options, he added.
Still, both Burkhart and Sharon Breitweiser of Pro-Choice Wyoming acknowledged that uncertainty around abortion affects Wyoming students, young adults and OB-GYNs.
“I think the ripple effect of this uncertainty, the broader effect on the population base and the type of health care people can get, is exacerbated by the fact that these laws are on the books,” Breitweiser said. about the prohibitions.
In neighboring Idaho, a study this winter found that the state lost 22% of its obstetricians and gynecologists since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Wade and the state enacted an abortion ban. Wyoming is struggling to maintain its fleet of such doctors, even as abortion remains legal here.
To review the events that led to the current questions about the legality of abortion in Wyoming, see our timeline here.
When asked about timelines for this case, Owens’ law clerk stated that the judge “cannot comment on pending cases.”
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent, nonprofit news organization focused on the people, places and policies of Wyoming.
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