Amanda Barrow

The court ruled that laws criminalizing abortion violated the state’s “health care freedom” amendment, passed in 2012 to limit the reach of the Affordable Care Act. The Wyoming Supreme Court held this week that the state’s abortion ban violated the right of each Wyomingite “to make his or her own health care decisions,” protected under the state constitution.

State courts are leaning on their unique state constitutional provisions, departing from federal precedent, and deciding who can challenge restrictive laws. You’re reading our series on 2025 state constitutional trends. All cases are available in our curated State Case Database. Three years after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization eliminated a federal right to abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in United States v.

State Republicans wanted to use the law to criminalize abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court held the federal Constitution does not protect the procedure. In a closely watched reproductive rights case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an 1849 state law had been impliedly repealed as to abortion and does not ban the procedure. The case may be just the opening act in the heated conflict over reproductive rights in one of the nation’s perennial swing states.