TL;DR
- Wyoming’s Supreme Court struck down abortion bans, including medication abortion.
- Judges ruled abortion is health care under the state constitution.
- The decision protects access to mifepristone and telehealth abortions.
- The ruling is a major win for reproductive and LGBTQ+ communities.
- Anti-abortion lawmakers took another legal loss post-Roe.
The Wyoming Supreme Court just delivered a seismic win for bodily autonomy, striking down two Republican-backed abortion laws — including the nation’s first explicit ban on abortion medication — and making it crystal clear: abortion is health care.
In a 4–1 ruling, the court tossed out Wyoming’s sweeping abortion ban and its separate prohibition on medication abortion, declaring both unconstitutional under a 2012 voter-approved amendment guaranteeing residents the right to make their own health care decisions. The decision lands as one of the strongest state-level repudiations of post-Roe abortion restrictions anywhere in the country.
Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden didn’t mince words. Writing for the majority, she explained that the state failed to prove its abortion restrictions were narrowly tailored or necessary, a fatal flaw under Wyoming’s constitution. More importantly, the court rejected the right-wing argument that abortion somehow exists outside the realm of health care — a claim judges called legally and logically indefensible.
“A pregnant person’s decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy,” Boomgaarden wrote, involves physical health, mental health, finances, family circumstances, and personal beliefs — making it impossible to separate abortion from health care. Translation: lawmakers don’t get to override medical reality just because it’s politically convenient.
The now-defunct laws were extreme even by post-Roe standards. Wyoming’s general abortion ban threatened doctors with up to five years in prison and $20,000 in fines, while a separate statute made it a felony to prescribe or use abortion medication like mifepristone, even though the same drugs remain legal for miscarriage management and other treatments. The hypocrisy wasn’t subtle — and the court wasn’t impressed.
The ruling upholds earlier decisions by Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens, who repeatedly blocked the bans and found they violated constitutional protections for personal liberty and health. With the state’s highest court now backing her, Wyoming becomes a rare example of courts actively stopping the anti-abortion domino effect unleashed by the fall of Roe v. Wade.
For LGBTQ+ people, especially queer women, trans men, and nonbinary people who can become pregnant, the decision carries enormous weight. Abortion access is inseparable from queer health care — particularly as the same political forces attacking reproductive rights are simultaneously targeting gender-affirming care, contraception, and bodily autonomy writ large. When courts affirm that medical decisions belong to patients, not politicians, queer lives are safer.
Advocacy groups celebrated immediately. Chelsea’s Fund, which helps Wyoming residents afford abortion and contraception, called the decision a “landmark victory for reproductive freedom,” emphasizing that abortion must be recognized as essential health care — not a crime.
Nationally, the ruling lands amid renewed conservative attempts to attack abortion medication through the courts, including lawsuits from states like Florida and Texas targeting FDA approval of mifepristone. Wyoming’s decision doesn’t just protect access locally; it adds legal momentum to the argument that abortion bans violate fundamental health care rights — a framing that could shape future state battles.
In a political landscape littered with losses, Wyoming’s ruling is a reminder that courts can still get it right. Abortion is health care. Bodily autonomy matters. And sometimes, even in deep-red territory, justice shows up — robe, gavel, and all.