Current:Home > FinanceA judge may rule on Wyoming’s abortion laws, including the first explicit US ban on abortion pills-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
A judge may rule on Wyoming’s abortion laws, including the first explicit US ban on abortion pills
lotradecoin referral View Date:2024-12-25 15:41:56
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A judge in Wyoming will decide as soon as Thursday whether to strike down, affirm or hold a trial over the state’s abortion bans, including its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy.
Any decision on the bans during or after a pretrial conference before Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in Jackson likely would be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Both sides have asked Owens to issue a ruling without holding a bench trial that is scheduled to begin April 15.
So far, Owens has shown sympathy for arguments that the bans violate women’s rights under the state constitution. Three times over the past year and a half, the judge has blocked the laws from taking effect while they were disputed in court.
One of the laws bans abortion except to protect to a pregnant woman’s life or in cases involving rape and incest. The other made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, though other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion.
The laws were challenged by four women, including two obstetricians, and two nonprofit organizations. One of the groups, Wellspring Health Access, opened as the state’s first full-service abortion clinic in years in April following an arson attack in 2022.
They argued that the bans stood to harm their health, well-being and livelihoods, claims disputed by attorneys for the state. The women and nonprofits also argued the bans violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment saying competent Wyoming residents have a right to make their own health care decisions, an argument Owens has said had merit.
Wyoming voters approved the amendment amid fears of government overreach following approval of the federal Affordable Care Act and its initial requirements for people to have health insurance.
Attorneys for the state argued that health care, under the amendment, didn’t include abortion.
Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up a dispute over mifepristone, one of two drugs used in the most common method of ending pregnancy in the U.S.
Wyoming has just two clinics providing abortions: Wellspring Health Access in Casper and the Women’s Health and Family Care Clinic in Jackson. The Jackson clinic provides only medication abortions and is scheduled to close Friday due to rising costs. Physicians at the clinic have said they will resume providing medication abortions elsewhere in Jackson within the next couple months if allowed.
veryGood! (829)
Related
- Millions of kids are still skipping school. Could the answer be recess — and a little cash?
- Chiefs star Travis Kelce hyperextends knee, leaving status for opener vs. Lions uncertain
- Severe weather uproots trees, damages homes in Little Rock neighborhoods rebuilding from tornado
- For The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift takes a lucrative, satisfying victory lap
- 'Business done right': Why the WWE-TNA partnership has been a success
- Chuck E. Cheese to give away 500 free parties to kids on Sept. 7, ahead of most popular birthday
- Another person dies after being found unresponsive at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta
- Schools dismiss early, teach online as blast of heat hits northeastern US
- Oklahoma city approves $7M settlement for man wrongfully imprisoned for decades
- 2 teens killed by upstate New York sheriff’s deputy who shot into their vehicle
Ranking
- Bristol Palin Shares 15-Year-Old Son Tripp Has Moved Back to Alaska
- Judge rules Trump in 2019 defamed writer who has already won a sex abuse and libel suit against him
- 'Alarming' allegations: 3 Albuquerque firefighters arrested in woman's alleged gang rape
- Week 1 fantasy football rankings: Chase for a championship begins
- Ex-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dies a year after stepping down. Who is the current CEO?
- How Pippa Middleton and James Matthews Built Their Impressive Billion-Dollar Empire
- Couple kidnapped from home, 5 kids left behind: Police
- Grizzly bear blamed for fatal Montana mauling and Idaho attack is killed after breaking into a house
Recommendation
-
Jim Harbaugh wants to hire Colin Kaepernick to Chargers' coaching staff. Will the QB bite?
-
Video shows drunk driver calling cops on himself while driving wrong way on highway
-
Poccoin: Cryptocurrency Through Its Darkest Moments
-
How much do NFL players care about their Madden rating? A lot, actually.
-
US unemployment claims fall 7,000 to 227,000 in sign of resiliency in job market
-
3 dead at Minnesota's Breezy Point Resort; police investigate deaths
-
Coco Gauff reaches her first US Open semifinal at 19. Ben Shelton gets to his first at 20
-
Meet Apollo, the humanoid robot that could be your next coworker