Today, Gov. Mark Gordon certified to the Secretary of State that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, setting in motion the parameters of House Bill 92, the “trigger ban” bill signed into law earlier this year. Abortion will be banned in Wyoming in five days.
Wyoming’s ban will have an immediate and devastating impact on women and all people who can become pregnant, taking from them a right that has been central to their ability to plan their lives, families, and careers
“Our access to abortion shouldn't depend on where we live, how much money we make, or who we are. We should be able to make the best medical decisions for ourselves and our families,” said Libby Skarin, ACLU of Wyoming campaigns director. “But thanks to Wyoming’s trigger law, Wyomingites will have fewer rights than people in other states. A person’s health, not politics, should guide important health care decisions – including the decision to have an abortion.”
As Wyomingites have already experienced due to severe obstacles to abortion care imposed by antiabortion politicians, banning abortion leaves many with no other option than to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth. Forcing women and other people to carry a pregnancy against their will has life-altering consequences, including enduring serious health risks from continued pregnancy and childbirth, making it harder to escape poverty, derailing their education and career plans, and making it more difficult to leave an abusive partner.
The burdens of Wyoming’s abortion ban will disproportionately fall on Black and Brown people, people struggling to make ends meet, those who are already parenting, folks in rural areas, Indigenous people, undocumented immigrants, LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit folks, and young people. This opinion will also lead to pregnancy losses being subject to suspicion, investigation, and arrest, and patients and doctors facing charges and jail.
“Abortion access is under unprecedented assault and the ACLU of Wyoming will be fighting with everything we have until every person can access the care they need to make their own decisions about their bodies and futures,” Skarin said. “The path to taking back our rights is long, but the ACLU will be there every step of the way until we all have the power to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families. While the courts are letting anti-abortion politicians attack our fundamental rights, they don’t get the final say — we do.”
About the ACLU of Wyoming
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU of Wyoming is part of a three-state chapter that also includes North Dakota and South Dakota. The team in Wyoming is supported by staff in those states.
The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, and the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people. In addition, the ACLU seeks to advance constitutional protections for groups traditionally denied their rights, including people of color, women, and the LGBTQ communities. The ACLU of Wyoming carries out its work through selective litigation, lobbying at the state and local level, and through public education and awareness of what the Bill of Rights means for the people of Wyoming.
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