FEBRUARY 6, 2025|
Photo – Gavel – Bigfoot99 file photo
A Teton County judge in November upturned Wyoming abortion law when she declared that abortion is a form of “health care.”
An attorney for a fetus in an abortion case might as easily call it murder.
Wyoming governor Mark Gordon, who appointed Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens, is arguing before the State Supreme Court that the decision should be reversed.
Wyoming Attorney General Special Assistant Jay Jerde filed a 102-page argument on Monday. The state argues that the Jackson judge invoked the 1970s federal case of Roe V Wade in her decision rather than legislative language and Wyoming history.
The court filing asks the Wyoming Supreme Court to reverse the judge’s order and dismiss a pro-choice coalition’s challenge against the bans.
At the heart of the case, the governor’s legal team argues that abortion is not health care. The Jackson judge, in her decision, took the polar opposite, and argued that the Wyoming Constitution promises adults “health care autonomy.”
The Wyoming Supreme Court is comprised of five justices. Currently, three of the justices are women and two are men. Each serves an eight-year term and may seek succeeding terms by means of a non-partisan retention ballot.
