FILE - Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon looks on during the opening of the Western Governors Association Winter Meeting, Nov. 6, 2023, in Teton Village, Wyo. On Friday, March 22, 2024, Gordon vetoed a bill that would have erected significant barriers to abortion, should it remain legal in the state, and signed legislation that bans gender-affirming care for minors. FILE - A vehicle passes the Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper, Wyo., April 24, 2023.
Abortion is legal in Wyoming pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging new laws to ban the procedure. The bill was aimed at the state’s only full-service abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access. The Casper facilityGordon said in announcing the veto that the measure would have “properly regulated” clinics. But he said amendments added by lawmakers made it vulnerable to legal challenge.
The measure would have required abortions at any clinic to be provided only by a licensed physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital no more than 10 miles away. Owens has shown sympathy for Wyoming’s abortion-rights supporters. She has said they are likely to prevail, for example, with their argument that abortion is allowed under a 2012 state constitutional amendment, which states that competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions.