Reproductive Health

The Mountain West region continues to be divided over abortion rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. Some state lawmakers want to further protect the rights of people seeking abortion care, while others are looking to make it more challenging for residents to get the medical procedure.

The Wyoming House of Representatives passed a first reading of a bill that would create an even stricter abortion ban, however, some pro-life lawmakers feared its constitutionality.

Doctors have always been hard to find and keep in a rural state like Wyoming. So the state created incentives like WWAMI (which stands for the states served by the UW School of Medicine: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) to try to get Wyomingites to come back and practice in their home state after medical school. The program has been successful, but recent bills going through the legislature are causing some of those in the program to decide not to come back and help fill the physician gap.

A few of the states with the most home births are in the Mountain West, and the region also includes two states that saw some of the country's largest increases from 2019 to 2020.

Most recent data shows that Wyoming women are getting less prenatal care and that maternal mortality is up.

The only clinic that provides abortion services in the state is still providing them. Dr. Giovannia Anthony who works at the clinic in Jackson said they are still getting calls for appointments. As of this publication, abortion is still legal. But that could change any day now.

A long time advocate for abortion rights in the state said she will be looking at a new strategy as Wyoming's abortion trigger law comes into play.

A new report shows the number of abortions in the U.S. rose significantly in recent years, and increases were seen in many Mountain West states – including some that are poised to ban abortion.

Following the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, those in Wyoming are wondering what happens next. During the last legislative session, Wyoming lawmakers passed a so called "trigger bill" that bans abortions in the state except in the case of rape, incest, or the possibility of death or serious bodily injury for the mother, which likely would have to be certified by doctors.

When Julie Burkhart learned about the Supreme Court draft opinion that would end abortion protections, she let out an involuntary shriek from her airplane seat. “Because it felt like such a gut punch,” Burkhart said. “And then after that, getting into the opinion and reading that — it was chilling.”