A judge in Wyoming has blocked the state’s abortion ban, which came into effect Wednesday, in the latest challenge to a state abortion ban in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision.
Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens enacted a temporary restraining order on the law, which would make abortion illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger.
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The bill was signed into law in March as a “trigger law,” meaning the ban would only go into effect if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. When the high court overruled Roe, ruling there is no constitutional right to abortion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the trigger law was reviewed and went into effect Wednesday before being blocked around midday.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued the abortion ban “violates the Wyoming Constitution.”
“In every case, Wyomingites who have relied on safe, legal access to abortion for decades will lose the right to determine the composition of their families and whether and when to become parents,” the lawsuit says. “The right to be free from state laws that perpetuate stereotypes about women and their proper societal role; the right to bodily autonomy and to be free from involuntary servitude; the right to make private health care decisions and to keep those health care decisions free from public scrutiny.”
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Wellspring Health Access, faced an arson attack on one of its clinics in Casper, Wyoming, in May before the Dobbs decision was released.
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State abortion bans enacted after the Dobbs decision have received various legal challenges, with some laws, such as in Louisiana, being blocked and others, such as in Texas, being allowed to be enacted.
