As soon as Wyoming banned abortion, the state’s providers and those seeking care quickly changed course. At the state’s lone clinic, almost a dozen appointments had been delayed or referred out of state after the first five days.
By the end of week two, that number was roughly 20, said Katie Knutter, executive director of Wellspring Health Access in Casper.
Under the new law, if a doctor can detect an early pregnancy on an ultrasound, they cannot legally provide abortion services. For most women, that means a six-week ban.
The governor signed the “Human heartbeat act” on March 9. It went into effect immediately and allows an exception for medical emergencies, but not rape or incest.
It makes legal abortions all but impossible, providers say, since most women don’t know they’re pregnant until well after fetal activity can be found at a doctor’s office.
“It is essentially a ban,” according to Giovannina Anthony, an OB-GYN in Jackson for the last 21 years. Providers now face five years in prison, an up to $10,000 fine, plus loss of a medical license for noncompliance.
By the end of week one under the new law, Anthony had already turned one patient away since she couldn’t see them within the law’s strict timeline while out of town. Before the law, Anthony would’ve seen that patient the next week, when she got back, she said.
Knutter and Anthony are both plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions in the state. Just this year, the state’s highest court ruled in their favor and is expected to do so again with the latest ban.
“It is very frustrating, especially with the Supreme Court decision that we received in January,” Knutter said.
An initial court date for the latest challenge is set for March 30, WyoFile reported. Plaintiffs are seeking to tack onto ongoing suits via an amendment.
The short window to seek care was an intentional choice of the bill’s authors, Anthony said.
“There's a complete understanding of this scenario by the anti-abortion activist wing of the Republican party,” Anthony said. “They understand that it is a de facto ban because so many women are going to slip through that crack.”
The bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett), said during the legislative session that he wanted the law to go a step further and ban abortions altogether.
“It's either life or it's not,” Neiman said at a Cheyenne press conference with reporters before the law passed. “If it’s growing, it's living, and there's something there that needs to be protected.”
If Wyoming’s new restrictions had been in place when Anthony started her practice, she said she would’ve been forced to turn away at least 90% of her patients.
Most women don’t know they’re pregnant until they’re six to eight weeks along, but doctors can detect what the bill calls “a fetal heartbeat” as early as five-and-a-half weeks, Anthony added.
“That window only exists because of existing technology, not because of the clinical scenario or medical aspects of the pregnancy,” she added.
That means the time window has shrunk dramatically for anyone deciding the next steps for an unwanted pregnancy. As a result, Anthony anticipates women will be stocking up on over-the-counter pregnancy tests in light of this bill.
Besides Anthony, there’s only one other medication abortion provider in the Jackson area, at St. John’s Hospital. The state’s only procedural clinic, Wellspring Health Access, is in Casper.
With the new law’s ultrasound requirement, telehealth provider Just The Pill faces another hurdle that makes it difficult to keep operating in the state, according to Anthony and Knutter. Just the Pill did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
But providers say added barriers won’t necessarily stop women from seeking care.
“They travel, they get online, they borrow money,” Anthony said. “They lose their job because they have to leave work. They work it out.”
Other plaintiffs include Chelsea’s Fund, a statewide nonprofit that compiles lists of resources, financial aid, travel assistance and how to set up an appointment.
Plaintiffs are asking for an emergency pause on the ban at least until the courts can rule on whether the new law violates the state’s constitution. That injunction could come as soon as mid-April, Anthony and Knutter said, which would match last year’s timeline when a Natrona County court blocked two abortion-related laws after almost two months.
Upon signing the bill, Gov. Mark Gordon acknowledged that the law might not hold up, given a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that upheld access.
“We needed to do something. We had no regulation at all,” Gordon said at a March 17 press conference. “I am a pro-life governor.”
Gordon had hoped for a constitutional amendment that he believes would have been a more “durable solution” in court than the bill he signed.
But that would require putting up an abortion ballot measure to voters, and an effort to do so failed this year. Wyomingites have expressed mixed views on abortion, with at least 39% believing abortion should always be an option as a matter of personal choice, according to a 2024 survey from the University of Wyoming.
The state did pass a law protecting pregnancy centers from government regulation to help women keep their babies or seek adoption rather than providing or offering information about abortions.
Until a court rules on an injunction, Anthony urges women and their partners to remain vigilant and pay close attention to how this new law could shape their healthcare decisions.
“If any women could hear me now, I would say make sure you have a solid contraceptive method,” Anthony said. “Unfortunately, nothing is perfect.”
If anything seems off or unusual with one’s menstrual periods, she suggests getting ahead of the curve to have as many options as possible as Wyoming adjusts to a new healthcare reality.
