Wyoming has enacted a comprehensive abortion ban that defines life as beginning at conception. A group of healthcare providers challenged this ban in Wyoming state court, and a trial court enjoined the ban for violating the state constitutional right to health care. The state then appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court, and on March 11, 2025, Americans United joined partners in filing an amicus brief.
Our brief argues that, in addition to violating the state constitutional right to health care, Wyoming’s abortion ban violates the state constitution’s religious-freedom protections. The brief points out that some faiths, including Catholicism and certain Protestant denominations, teach that life that begins at conception. Others, like Judaism, teach that life begins at birth. Between these poles lies a wide spectrum of views, each positing a different answer to this inherently spiritual question. But Wyoming’s abortion ban elevates a single belief to prominence, taking a stance on religious matters and imposing one religious viewpoint on all Wyomingites.
Unfortunately, on March 25, 2025, the court rejected our amicus brief and struck it from the record (and did the same for an amicus brief for the other side). The case is still pending before the Wyoming Supreme Court.
