Abortion clinic opens in Wyoming, where state constitution and 'hands-off conservatism' make it possible, for now

Abortion opponents protest in front of the new Wellspring clinic.
(Photo by Rachel Woolf, The Washington Post)

An abortion clinic in Casper, Wyoming, has opened despite the state's deep-red history and Roe vs. Wade reversal. Wyoming law and Western self-determination beliefs have made Wellspring Health Access' surgical clinic possible, reports Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post. "Most of Wyoming is an abortion desert, and most lawmakers in America's reddest state — having passed laws restricting nearly all abortions as well as the nation's first explicit prohibition on abortion pills. . . . Yet with the state's restrictions tied up in court, Wellspring. . . represents a dramatic abortion standoff and a stark expansion of abortion services in a region of wide-open range and sky." 

Originally scheduled to open in May 2022, the clinic was burned down by an arsonist who "was opposed to abortion," Brulliard writes. The new building opened in spring of 2023. It is a rarity "in what may be the unlikeliest abortion clinic in the country. . . . Wyoming's only other provider, 280 miles away in Jackson, offers just abortion pills. Wellspring's four physicians have already seen patients from South Dakota, Utah and Nebraska, neighboring states with limited or no abortion services. The clinic serves a dozen patients a week on average. Nearly half receive abortions, the rest reproductive health care."

"Wellspring's ability to operate is rooted in the hands-off brand of conservatism that characterized Wyoming politics before hard-liners began gaining influence," Brulliard explains. "In 2011, lawmakers worried about the Affordable Care Act potentially mandating enrollment in an 'Obamacare' plan approved a resolution that put a constitutional amendment to a public vote. It passed, giving adults the right to make their own health-care decisions."

If abortion is health care, the state cannot control an adult's health-care choices. "In court filings, the state has said its policy 'is and has always been to criminalize abortion' and argues that abortion is not health care. . . In March, a state judge in Jackson issued a temporary restraining order on the ban, which makes most abortions a felony punishable by as much as five years in prison. Later this month, she is scheduled to consider a similar order for the medication abortion ban just before it is slated to take effect."

Locations of Wyoming's abortion clinics (Wikpedia, adapted)

The town of 60,000 people on the edge of the Rocky Mountains has tried to keep a level approach, Bruillard reports: "The nonpartisan city council has mostly avoided debate over the clinic, though it has been a flash point." The town's mayor, Bruce Knell, "who describes himself as a 'literal Bibleist,' is not heeding calls for a city resolution condemning abortion." Knell told Bruillard: "They are a legal, law-abiding business, so they have a right to be here. We will allow this to play out in the courts. And I do think the pro-life folks will see a result that they're happy with."