A Wyoming judge blocked two of the state’s laws protecting preborn children on Monday. As a result, the state’s only abortion facility has announced its plans to resume abortions this week.
In his ruling, District Judge Thomas T.C. Campbell halted a law that required abortion facilities to receive licensing as ambulatory surgical centers, as well as a law requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before taking the abortion pill. Rather than restrict abortion, both laws were passed to ensure the health and safety of women; the first law would make sure abortion facilities can accommodate ambulance gurneys while having a transfer protocol in place with a local hospital, while the second would ensure that the woman does not have a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy before she takes the abortion pill.
Abortion advocates immediately filed suit against both laws when they were enacted.
In siding with the abortion industry, Campbell stated that both laws “affect a fundamental right expressly provided for by the Wyoming Constitution.
“At least at this juncture, the State Defendants failed demonstrating that the laws are necessary, reasonable, or advance a compelling government interest,” he wrote. “In fact, the uncontested evidence indicates otherwise.”
Though abortion was never prohibited, the state’s only abortion facility, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, stopped committing abortions in February after the passage of the two new laws. Following Campbell’s Monday ruling, the facility’s president, Julie Burkhart, announced it would resume killing preborn children on Thursday, calling it a “great day for Wyoming.”
“These laws have placed burdens on patients and their families, adding stress instead of support,” Burkhart said in a statement. “Wyomingites don’t need government overreach in their personal health decisions — they need leadership from their elected leaders who will partner with us for the best possible health care.”
Campbell’s temporary injunction against the two laws will continue while the case makes its way through the courts. The Wyoming Supreme Court is also currently hearing a case regarding state laws that would protect preborn children and prohibit abortion altogether; the court is expected to rule on that case later this year.
