Judge temporarily halts Wyoming abortion ban days after it took effect
Source: CBS News
Abortion will again be legal in Wyoming — at least for now — after a judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a ban that took effect a few days earlier. Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens' decision halts the ban amid a challenge in her court to a law that took effect Sunday.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law despite earlier rulings by Owens that had blocked a previous ban since shortly after it took effect last summer. Owens put the new ban on hold after a hearing Wednesday in which abortion-rights supporters said the law harms pregnant women and their doctors and violates the state constitution.
Owens suspended the ban for at least two weeks. The ban prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest that's reported to police, or to save a woman's life. An amendment in the Wyoming Constitution says adults have a right to make their own health care decisions, so Republicans enacted a ban that states abortion is not health care.
However, Owens said it's up to the courts, not lawmakers, to decide whether that's the case. "The state can not legislate away a constitutional right. It's not clear whether abortion is health care. The court has to then decide that," Owens said in an oral decision given at the end of an hourslong hearing.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wyoming-abortion-ban-temporary-block/
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