WYOMING — Natrona County District Judge Dan Forgey granted a temporary restraining order blocking Wyoming's newly enacted law that prohibits abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, generally around the sixth week of pregnancy. Forgey wrote that the new law is likely to be overturned on similar grounds to previous abortion bans struck down under the state constitution.

Earlier this year, the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down sweeping abortion and abortion pill bans, finding they violated a 2012 voter-approved state constitutional amendment guaranteeing competent adults the right to make their own healthcare decisions. Court battles over state abortion bans and restrictions have focused on language in state constitutions.

Wellspring Health Access, the only abortion clinic in Wyoming, challenged the new restriction. "For nearly two months, this deeply harmful abortion ban has greatly reduced our ability to provide care to people in Wyoming," Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said.

Republican state lawmaker and former nurse Evie Brennan, who supports the law, framed it as a response to the state's demographic challenges. "We're sending a message that children are important and that they're the future," Brennan said. "Without an up and coming population that grows up here that wants to stay here, then we just become a stagnant or an aging slash dying state."

Brennan also said she hopes lawmakers will evaluate the effects of the six-week ban depending on whether courts let it stand. "We have to send the message that not only are you important in utero, but you're also important on day one when you're born, like outside of utero," she said.

Population loss has been an issue in Wyoming for decades. A 2024 Harvard Kennedy School working paper found that by the time Wyomingites reach their thirties, nearly two thirds have left the state, with many young people leaving for cities, of which Wyoming has few. Researchers from Harvard recommended that Wyoming invest in its rural areas to make them more economically diverse and to provide housing for young people.

Idaho saw a short-term population increase of about 240 births after its 2023 abortion ban. Researchers found Idaho had 35% fewer OB-GYNs after that law went into effect.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a nationwide right to abortion, state bans have been allowed to be enforced. Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with rare exceptions. Iowa, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have bans that take effect at either six weeks' gestation or when cardiac activity can be detected.