Abortion pill ban blocked by Wyoming judge at request of 'overwhelming majority': report

23 June 2023

Three months after Wyoming became the first state to enforce legislation banning abortion pills, a County District Court judge temporarily blocked the law just days before it was set to go into effect, The New York Times reports.

"Essentially the government under this law is making the decision for a woman," Owens said during a Thursday hearing, "rather than the woman making her own health care choice, which is what the overwhelming majority in Wyoming decided that we should get to do."

According to The Times, the law banning abortion medication, which was "passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Mark Gordon in March, makes it illegal to 'prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.'"

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade one year ago, The Washington Post reported, "Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson that the legality of abortion would now be up to individual states."

Therefore, Owens determined in her ruling the four plaintiffs, which are all health care providers, "have clearly shown probable success on the merits and that at least some of the plaintiffs will suffer possible irreparable injury" if the Republican-backed ban were successful.

"The ban seeks to only ban medication abortions, not all abortions, completely undermining the state's stated goal of preserving prenatal life, and allows surgical abortions which are more invasive physically, financially and logistically," plaintiff Marci Bramlet told Owens. "The statute tells women, 'You can have an abortion in Wyoming but not using the safe, effective, F.D.A.-approved medication available.'"

Bramlet emphasized "pills have been the method used in almost all recent abortions in the state," while The Times notes, "nationally, pills are now used in over half of abortions."

In April, the Supreme Court made a much anticipated "ruling on access to mifespristone, one of two medications used in a majority of abortions in the U.S.," voting "to stay a lower court ruling that would have blocked access to an abortion medication nationwide."

The Times reports Owens ruled, "Doctors or anyone else found guilty of violating this law would be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine," as "The law explicitly says that pregnant women would be exempt from charges and penalties."

The New York Times' full report is available at this link (subscription required). The Washington Post's report is here (subscription required).

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