Dear editor:
Wyoming’s Supreme Court justices have bent themselves into pretzels and ignored the rest of the Wyoming State Constitution to find that abortion fits the definition of “health care” to keep abortion legal.
The justices completely and perhaps intentionally ignored Article 1, § 2 — “In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal.
The phrase “all members of the human race” is biological, not age-limited or dependency-based.
“Inherent” means existing by nature, not conferred by government or conditioned on birth status or recent amendments to the state Constitution.
The Wyoming state constitution in its first Article is clear: human life is constitutionally protected wherever it exists, including prenatal human life.
This section alone provides a constitutional foundation for the State asserting that unborn humans fall within the class of persons whose lives it has a duty to protect. Calling abortion “health care” does not give the State license to ignore its primary duty - protecting human life.
The justices also ignored Article 1, § 3 — which says “Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state… shall be without distinction of race, color, sex, or any circumstance or condition whatsoever other than individual incompetency…”
Here, the Constitution explicitly warns against excluding rights based on conditions such as developmental stage (e.g., unborn vs. born) The State Constitution is clear that life as a natural right cannot be denied based solely on gestational age.
Lastly, the justices ignore Article 1, § 7 which states, “Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic.”
Here The Wyoming Constitution expressly rejects unchecked authority over human life. Wyoming has a protective—not destructive—role with respect to life.
If unborn humans are recognized as human life, and according to W.S. 6-2-101(d), Wyoming does indeed recognize unborn humans as human life.
That statute creates a first-degree murder offense of an unborn child when the defendant kills or attempts to kill a human being, the human being is pregnant, and the unborn child dies because of the defendant’s actions.
This decision is sickeningly similar to the legal logic applied in Roe v Wade where a “right” was invented that was expressly at odds with the U.S. Constitution. May this Wyoming ruling be quickly overturned.
Sincerely,
Stephen W Harden
Piperton, Tennessee
