Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state's Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling, striking down a pair of restrictive laws that included the nation's first explicit ban on abortion pills.
Court Rules Bans Violate State Constitution
In a 4-1 decision handed down on Tuesday, 6th January 2026, the Wyoming Supreme Court found that the laws violated a state constitutional amendment. This amendment, approved by voters in 2012, guarantees competent adults the right to make their own healthcare decisions.
The justices sided with plaintiffs including the state's sole abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the advocacy group Chelsea's Fund, and four women, two of whom are obstetricians. They argued successfully that the abortion bans infringed upon this constitutional right.
State attorneys had contended that abortion does not constitute healthcare, but the court rejected this argument. While acknowledging the amendment was not originally written with abortion in mind, the justices stated it was not their role to "add words" to the constitution.
Political Fallout and Future Challenges
The ruling overturns two key pieces of legislation passed after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. One law sought to ban abortion entirely, with exceptions only for rape, incest, or to save the mother's life. The other was the pioneering explicit ban on medication abortion, or abortion pills.
Republican Governor Mark Gordon expressed disappointment and called on state lawmakers to act. He urged them to pass a proposed constitutional amendment banning abortion, which would then be put before voters in the autumn. "This ruling may settle, for now, a legal question, but it does not settle the moral one," Gordon stated.
Such an amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the Republican-dominated legislature to be considered during the upcoming budget session, where it is expected to find wide support.
Immediate and Ongoing Legal Landscape
Abortion access had been protected in Wyoming since 2022, when Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens initially blocked the laws. Judge Owens later formally struck them down as unconstitutional in 2024, a decision now upheld by the state's highest court.
The Supreme Court's decision also means separate laws passed last year—requiring clinics to be licensed as surgical centres and mandating ultrasounds before medication abortions—could technically take effect. However, a judge in a different lawsuit has currently blocked those provisions while that case proceeds.
Attorneys for both sides and representatives from Wellspring Health Access did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the ruling.
