CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Abortion bans set to take effect this week in Wyoming and North Dakota were temporarily blocked Wednesday by judges in those states amid lawsuits that argued the bans violated their state constitutions.
A judge in Wyoming sided with the women’s firebomb clinic and others who argued the ban would harm health care workers and their patients, while a judge in North Dakota sided with the state’s only abortion clinic, Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo .
Wyoming’s law was set to go into effect Wednesday. The North Dakota law was set to go into effect Thursday.
West Virginia lawmakers, meanwhile, moved forward with the ban amid protests and dozens of demonstrations against the measure.
During the hours-long debate that led to a 69-23 vote in the Republican-dominated West Virginia House of Delegates, the sound of shouts and chants from protesters standing outside the chamber echoed around the room.
“Turn to us,” shouted the crowd.
Recent court actions in North Dakota and Wyoming put them among several states, including Kentucky, Louisiana and Utah, where judges have temporarily blocked enforcement of “launch laws” while lawsuits are pending.
Arguing before Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in Jackson, Wyoming, attorneys disagreed over whether the state constitution provides for an abortion right that would nullify the abortion law that took effect Wednesday.
However, Owens was most sympathetic, arguing that the ban put pregnant patients with dangerous complications and their doctors in a difficult position as they weighed serious medical risks against the possibility of prosecution.
“This is possible irreparable harm to the plaintiffs. They were left without instructions,” Owens said.
Several states, including Wyoming, recently passed abortion bans when the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade on June 24. The US Supreme Court officially issued its decision on Tuesday.
After more than three weeks of consideration, Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, last week gave the go-ahead for Wyoming’s abortion ban, which he signed in March to take effect Wednesday, but instead is on hold after the ruling.
Wyoming law prohibits abortion except in cases of rape or incest or to protect the life or health of the mother, except for psychological illness. Under a new Wyoming law, doctors and others who perform illegal abortions could face up to 14 years in prison.
Four Wyoming women and two nonprofits filed a lawsuit Monday to challenge the new law, saying it violates several rights guaranteed by the state constitution. Wyoming’s special assistant attorney general, Jay Gerde, was skeptical, saying the state’s constitution does not expressly or impliedly allow abortion.
“Such a right does not exist. You can’t break something that isn’t there,” Jerde told Owens.
The lawsuit claims the abortion ban will harm the women — two obstetricians, an antenatal nurse and a University of Wyoming law student — by denying potentially life-saving treatment options to their patients or themselves.
Among those suing is the nonprofit Wellspring Health Access, which opened a Casper clinic for women and LGBTQ people that would offer abortions. The May arson delayed the opening of the clinic from mid-June until at least the end of this year.
In North Dakota, Burley County Circuit Judge Bruce Romanik sided with the state’s only abortion clinic, prompting the state to move quickly to put the law into effect. The clinic argued that the 30-day clock should not have started until the U.S. Supreme Court issued its certified decision on Tuesday.
The ruling would give the Red River clinic more time to move a few miles away to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortions remain legal. North Dakota law makes abortion illegal in the state, except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Meetra Mehdizadeh, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is assisting the clinic with the lawsuit, said the plaintiffs “will do everything in our power to fight this ban and preserve access to abortion in North Dakota for as long as possible.”
Meanwhile, in West Virginia, lawmakers on Wednesday debated a sweeping abortion ban bill in the House that would make providing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The bill makes exceptions for rape or incest before 14 weeks of pregnancy and for certain medical complications.
“What’s ringing in my ears is not the noise of the people,” said one of the bill’s supporters, Republican Brandon Steele of Raleigh County. “This is the cry of the unborn, tens of thousands of unborn children who died today.”
The bill is now sent to the Senate for consideration.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey said a 19th-century law banned abortion in the state. Last week, a state judge barred the state from enforcing that ban, saying it had been replaced by controversial new laws.
Hundreds of people converged on the state Capitol for the debate. Many stood outside the House chamber and Speaker Roger Hanshaw’s office, chanting and holding signs that read “we will not go quietly” and “stop stealing our health care.” Some employees of the special services were taken out of the halls of the House of Representatives.
Dozens spoke out against the bill in the House, including Kathy Quiñonez, the executive director of the West Virginia Women’s Health Center, who was blocked and asked to resign when she began speaking out about an abortion she had at 17.
“I chose life,” she said, raising her voice to speak through the break. “I chose my life because my life is sacred.”
Associated Press reporter Dave Kolpak contributed to this report from Fargo, North Dakota. Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. Follow Mead Gruver on Twitter at https://twitter.com/meadgruver.
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