When the leader of Wyoming’s House of Representatives learned that the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that abortion access is a fundamental health care right and will remain legal in the state, he wept.
Then he started drafting language to change the Wyoming Constitution.
House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, didn’t have a public-ready version of that language Tuesday, he told Cowboy State Daily in a tearful phone interview. But he voiced resolve.
“We will fight this. We are not giving up — I am not giving up,” said Neiman. "I didn’t get elected to this office to give up."
He called the Wyoming Supreme Court majority’s 4-1 ruling “ridiculous.”
The majority concluded in a ruling released Tuesday morning that abortion is health care; it is a fundamental right, and the state didn’t overcome the rigorous standard that laws implicating fundamental rights face in court.
He questioned why the Wyoming law making it a double homicide to murder a pregnant woman has survived with no resistance, while the abortion bans using the same logic have endured and ultimately fallen to three-and-a-half years of court challenges.
“This is completely wrong,” said Neiman. “It’s legislating from the bench.”
He said he started working immediately on an amendment to the state Constitution. Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, had attempted one after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he said, but she withdrew it to see how the abortion bans performed.
That’s because the court’s Tuesday decision hinges on a tenet of the Wyoming Constitution giving each competent adult a health care autonomy right, for themselves and for their children.
Because Wyoming Fought 'Obamacare'
Wyoming voters put that language on their Constitution in 2012, in what was then an attempt to resist “Obamacare” mandates.
To become a constitutional amendment, any new language must clear both chambers of the state Legislature with a two-thirds majority, survive the governor’s desk, and pass a majority vote of electors at the next general election.
Neiman said he’s confident the Legislature would support the amendment provision.
As for whether the people would pass it, he could only speculate:
“I guess there’s people out there scared Wyoming won’t support a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn but they certainly elected a lot of pro life representatives and senators across the state,” he said. “Why would they quit now?”
Neiman also hinted that this ruling could push lawmakers closer to revising the way Wyoming appoints its judges and justices, via governor selection from an appointed committee’s nominees.
The legislative Judiciary Committee last year advanced draft language to make Wyoming Supreme Court justices weather state Senate confirmation before joining the bench.
Phone Call With The Governor
Gov. Mark Gordon told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday phone call that he was “very disappointed” at the decision.
“This is not good for Wyoming. It’s not good for the unborn,” he said. “I don’t think anybody can take great delight in this day, and I just hope that we draft (our next provisions) carefully and thoughtfully, to make sure we get the issue correct.”
Gordon’s approach to signing, not signing, and vetoing abortion legislation has essentially been: be pro-life, but don’t prolong the court battles with new language.
He signed Wyoming’s 2022 trigger abortion ban into law and the 2023 bill meant to remedy its shortcomings.
He vetoed a 2025 bill to require ultrasounds before abortions, and another 2025 attempt at banning abortion, saying these would only complicate court proceedings.
By then, Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens — a Gordon appointee — had kept abortion legal for nearly three years by blocking various bans since the summer of 2022.
On Tuesday, Gordon told Cowboy State Daily he never commits to signing any provision before he sees it, so he can’t promise he’ll sign whatever lawmakers are now drafting.
But, he reiterated, his stance all along has been that this issue should go to a vote of the people.
“This is an issue the people ought to weigh in on themselves,” he said. “I’m hoping, first and foremost, we can get some sort of constitutional amendment before the voters this fall to resolve this issue, because — as you’ve pointed out — it’s hard to draft language around these issues.”
The Wyoming Supreme Court in its ruling pointed to numerous weaknesses in the abortion bans, including the rape and incest exemptions detracting from the state’s claims that it had a “compelling interest” to protect unborn life.
“In that regard,” wrote Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden, “the Abortion Laws are underinclusive because they do not protect all unborn children.”
A pro-life group in 1994 tried to ban abortion via a voter-enacted law, and the ballot measure failed.
As to whether Wyomingites 32 years later have the pro-life quantities to pass an amendment on the ballot now, Gordon said he doesn’t know.
He urged collaboration and wisdom on the part of lawmakers, who are the gatekeepers of the effort.
He also discouraged efforts to reform the judiciary, especially by making judges elected, as he said that could link judicial decisions to campaign finance cronyism.
“I know the temptation to react is large on everyone’s part,” he said. “This is a time that, I think, it’s incredibly important we sit down, spend time to get this question right — and let the people decide.”
Senate President
Like Neiman, Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, vowed to pursue a change to the state Constitution.
Biteman and Neiman both determine which pieces of legislation should reach their respective chambers.
Biteman also called the court’s decision “deeply disappointing and profoundly wrong.”
“By striking down Wyoming’s pro-life laws,” continued Biteman, “the Court has substituted its judgment for that of the people’s elected representatives and, in doing so, failed to protect the most fundamental right of all — the right to life.”
He said Wyoming’s abortion bans were enacted “to defend innocent, unborn children and to affirm that every human life has inherent value and dignity.”
He called the ruling’s interpretation a stretch of the Wyoming Constitution.
“Let me be clear: the pro-life movement in Wyoming is not going away,” he wrote. “We will continue to stand for the voiceless, to defend mothers and children, and to fight for laws that reflect the values of this state — not the preferences of activist courts.”
Senate Appropriations Chair Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone call that he’s drafting language toward amending the Constitution as well.
He was the primary sponsor on the so-called “chemical abortion ban” passed in 2023, which the high court struck down alongside a more general ban criminalizing abortions generally.
Both laws had exceptions to spare the life of the mother, and for rape and incest situations.
“The court’s interpretation of our state Constitution is not the same as mine, or the majority of the state Legislature,” said Salazar. “The state’s greatest responsibility is the protection of human life. The state Legislature will respond.”
Rejoicing On The Other Side
Julie Burkhardt, president of Wyoming’s only abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, rejoiced Tuesday at the ruling.
A plaintiff in the legal challenge, she too vowed to keep fighting her cause.
“Today, The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed what we’ve always known to be true: abortion is essential health care, and the government should not interfere in personal decisions about our health,” said Burkhardt in a Tuesday email statement. “This ruling is a victory for the fundamental right of people across Wyoming to make decisions about their own lives and health.”
She said the clinic, based in Casper, would remain “open and ready to provide compassionate reproductive health care, including abortion, and our patients in Wyoming will be able to obtain this care without having to travel out of state.”
Though the plaintiffs celebrated Tuesday, she said, “we know that anti-abortion politicians will continue their push to restrict access to health care in Wyoming with new, harmful proposals in the state Legislature.”
She continued: “Patients should not have to live in fear that their health care decisions will be suddenly upended at the whim of a judge or lawmaker.”
Minority Floor Leader
Wyoming House Minority Floor Leader Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday statement that it was clear from the start that the bans were unconstitutional.
All five justices — even the lone dissent against striking down the laws — determined that abortion is health care, he noted.
That lone dissent was Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Kari Gray, who wrote that the language around the health care right gives the Legislature more authority in that area, and the court should have deferred to that authority closer to the people.
Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Kate Fox was recalled to the help decide the case in place of Justice Bridget Hill, who couldn’t participate because she was the state attorney general throughout much of the case’s lifespan.
Fox was part of a four-justice majority that struck down the laws as unconstitutional, keeping abortion legal in Wyoming until and unless the voters change their constitution.
“The majority correctly struck these laws down,” wrote Yin.
He, too, indicated coming battles.
“The Wyoming Democratic Caucus will keep standing up for the Constitution and the rights of every Wyomingite and our communities,” Yin wrote.
Libertarians In Wyoming
The Libertarian Party of Wyoming told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday statement that agrees with the courts that medical freedom is protected in the Wyoming Constitution.
"If the Freedom Caucus wants to change the constitution, they should stop with theatrics and just place the issue on the ballot!" the statement continues. "While the Freedom Caucus and the GOP work overtime to take away medical freedom, The Libertarian Party of Wyoming is currently seeking legal remedies for the thousands of medical marijuana users and medical mushroom users who have had their lives ruined and their constitutional rights violated."
Marijuana and psilocybin mushroom use remain illegal in Wyoming.
The party added: "In the face of this ruling it is clear that there has been a double standard in our state, and it must be rectified!"
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus issued a statement mourning the decision and vowing to continue the fight.
Neiman, who is a member of the caucus, said its chair, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, is helping craft the amendment language.
Rodriguez-Williams did not return a request for comment by publication.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
