JACKSON, Wyo. — A trial that will decide whether abortion will remain legal in Wyoming is set to take place across three days in Teton County in April 2024.
On Friday, Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens filed the trial’s scheduling and case management order. The three-day bench trial will not involve a jury but will be conducted by Owens alone.
Johnson v. Wyoming will decide if the recent abortion bans are legal under the Wyoming Constitution following the June 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. The six plaintiffs in the trial include the same individuals who won an injunction last summer, halting the previous abortion ban, known as the trigger ban. The “Life is a Human Right Act” (House Bill 152) invalidates that piece of legislation and voided that court case.
House Bill 152 “prohibits any person from knowingly administering, prescribing or selling any medicine, drug or other substance to, or from knowingly using or employing any instrument, device, means or procedure upon, any pregnant woman with the specific intent of causing or abetting an abortion.”
Meanwhile, plaintiffs in the case argue that abortion is health care and House Bill 152 violates the Wyoming Constitution amendment that says adults have a right to make their own health care decisions.
In 2012, Wyoming voters approved an amendment to the constitution guaranteeing each adult “the right to make his or her own health care decisions.” That amendment grew out of conservatives’ distrust of Obamacare, a major overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system designed to extend coverage to more Americans.
Abortion remains legal in Wyoming due to Owens’ temporary restraining order on the state’s “Life is a Right to Human Life Act” which was granted in March.
Last month, plaintiffs asked for another temporary restraining order on the states’ chemical abortion ban which is set to take effect on July 1. A hearing is scheduled for June 22 for Owens to decide whether to pause the chemical abortion ban or not.
Before the Johnson v. Wyoming trial on April 15, 2024, two separate pretrial conferences will take place, one on Dec. 14 and another on March 14, 2024.
