Wyoming, a so-called “abortion desert,” will be opening its first surgical abortion facility this summer to be located between Wyoming Medical Center and downtown Casper. It will be operated by Circle of Hope Health Care Service, a pro-abortion non-profit whose mission, according to its website, is to “expand access to reproductive health care in abortion deserts around the world.”
Casper is centrally located in the state of Wyoming; therefore, this new abortion facility will be accessible to the majority of women within the state. Wyoming women have had access to chemical abortions up to the tenth week of pregnancy, but the new facility will be the state’s first surgical abortion facility. Julie Burkhart, Circle of Hope’s Director, explained, “Our goal in launching this clinic is to ensure that more people in Wyoming and the broader region have access to the reproductive health care they need, including abortion care.”
Burkhart was the CEO of Trust Women and has established two abortion facilities and oversees a third. She also previously worked alongside Dr. George Tiller, an abortionist who committed abortions up to 36 weeks and who was shot and killed in 2009 by a violent man professing to be anti-abortion. Dr. Tiller had a full-size crematorium in his office for cremating babies.
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The new facility is expected to open in June of 2022 and is funded by private donors. The range of services the facility will offer has not been established but its goal is to provide full-spectrum reproductive healthcare, in addition to abortions. Burkhart said they are in the process of hiring doctors and staff members.
As previously reported by Live Action News, earlier this year Wyoming’s governor, Mark Gordon, signed a bill into law that will ban abortion in the state if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. The law notes that abortions “shall not be performed, except when necessary to preserve the woman from a serious risk of death or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions.” If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the bill would make abortion a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Sheila Leah of Wyoming’s Right to Life noted, “[The clinic’s opening] feels like a pre-emptive challenge to the law.”
Martie Halverson, Right to Life of Wyoming’s President, shared her shock about the forthcoming grand opening of the facility. “We thought when we closed down the Planned Parenthood in 2017 that no one would try to come into Wyoming again,” she said.
For those who would like to stand in opposition to the forthcoming facility opening, a prayer vigil will take place at the new clinic location on Thursday, April 21, 2022. 40 Days for Life will also begin a campaign that same day.
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