CHEYENNE (LifeSiteNews) — A pro-life Wyoming law banning abortions from the moment of conception hit a roadblock Wednesday after a district judge temporarily blocked the legislation from taking effect. The decision means that women can still legally obtain abortions in the Cowboy State pending future court actions.
Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens made the decision to block Wyoming’s “Life is a Human Right Act,” which bans all chemical or surgical abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or allegedly to save the life of the mother, while the court weighs a lawsuit brought by abortionists, USA Today reported. Pro-life advocates stress that there is never a circumstance in which abortion is medically necessary.
Owens’ decision came just days after the pro-life law took effect and will stall enforcement for at least two weeks. In the meantime, the state’s two abortion clinics can continue performing abortions.
LifeSiteNews previously reported that the Act passed the Wyoming House in February and cleared the state Senate on March 7 following the addition of exceptions for rape and incest.
Lawmakers had introduced the “Life is a Human Right Act” as a means of securing protections for the preborn after Judge Owens previously blocked the state’s pre-Dobbs trigger law in July, also at the request of abortionists.
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In both cases, the abortion providers challenging the pro-life laws argue they violate Wyoming’s constitution, which safeguards the right of every “competent adult … to make his or her own health care decisions.”
USA Today pointed out that defenders of the “Life is a Human Right Act” contend that the law doesn’t undermine constitutional guarantees because abortion isn’t health care.
In her oral decision, Judge Owens said the determination of whether or not abortion fits the description of health care is a matter for the courts, not lawmakers.
“The state can not legislate away a constitutional right,” she said. “It’s not clear whether abortion is health care. The court has to then decide that.”
Owens didn’t comment on another piece of pro-life legislation, a measure recently signed by Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon that would prohibit the distribution of abortion pills in the state.
Wyoming is the first state in the country to pursue an outright ban on the drugs, which are increasingly surpassing surgical abortions as the preferred method to kill unborn babies in the womb.
The abortion pill ban is slated to take effect in July.