Hot off the Bench - Individual Rights
Affirming the district court’s decision, the Wyoming Supreme Court found two state statutes restricting abortion to be unconstitutional. The Court unanimously held that the decision whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy is a woman’s own health care decision is a fundamental right protected by Article 1, Section 38 of the Wyoming Constitution. This constitutional provision provides that “[e]ach competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”
Applying “strict scrutiny” to its review, the Court found that the State failed to demonstrate that the restrictions on performing abortions and the ban on medications are “no more restrictive than necessary” to serve the State’s interest in protecting prenatal life.
The Court reaffirmed its responsibility to interpret the law. Stating that a “statute does not and cannot define the scope of constitutional rights,” the Court was unwilling to rely on the Legislature’s definition of “health care.” “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.”
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