Wyoming lawmakers are pondering how to address the state’s dire shortage of OB-GYNs. According to a recent report, 11 of 23 Wyoming counties do not have an OB-GYN at all, so many women must travel great distances to receive essential health care.
Opinion
When it comes to health care in general, the lack of providers and the distance required to receive care are some of the biggest issues Wyomingites face. And for women specifically, the problem is more severe.
Idaho faces a similar issue: Only half of the state’s counties have an OB-GYN, and nearly a quarter of the state’s OB-GYNs have left the state since 2022.
If lawmakers are concerned about women having access to adequate medical services, here is a simple solution: stop considering laws that restrict women’s reproductive health care.
Wyoming and Idaho have passed multiple laws aimed at banning abortion. These laws put doctors at risk of criminal penalties for performing safe routine procedures for which they are highly trained — procedures many women need, and others choose because they desire the freedom to control when and how they raise a family.
Doctors — and OB-GYNs in particular — are leaving Wyoming or refusing to practice here because of the threat of these laws passing, and they won’t come back until the situation changes.
I know, because I was born and raised in Wyoming and always planned to build my life, family, and medical career here. But as long as lawmakers remain openly hostile to women’s health care, I feel that I cannot safely return home and will stay and practice in my adopted home of Montana.
I have known since a young age that I wanted to be a doctor, and I was fortunate to have taken part in the regional “WWAMI” program to earn my degree from the University of Washington with the goal to return to Wyoming to practice. This program provides Wyoming medical school students with tuition pay-back incentives if we return and work within the communities that raised us.
As a physician, I dedicated myself to providing women’s and reproductive health care. I had fully planned to return to Wyoming as an OB-GYN after I graduated from OB-GYN residency training. But my thinking shifted when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and in Wyoming “the trigger ban” passed by the Legislature in 2022 went into effect. Since that time, the ban has been suspended while the law is reviewed in state court.
It is clear Wyoming lawmakers do not want any abortions performed. But they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, by passing laws that strongly discourage and threaten to strangle the practice of any physicians practicing here who perform women’s reproductive care.
Abortion is part of the full range of procedures that comprise women’s reproductive health care. When Wyoming lawmakers ban one procedure under the umbrella of reproductive care, it calls into question whether numerous others an OB-GYN performs would also be illegal. Physicians need to work in a state where they will not be prosecuted for doing their jobs and caring for patients.
The results for Wyoming women are serious, and in some cases deadly. Not only does the state have very few providers, but even these are concentrated in larger towns. Wyoming has a “maternity desert”— nearly 25,000 square miles where there is no birthing center within 60 miles. While I cannot speak to all the complexities of the situation, I know of at least one Wyoming woman who died as a result of pregnancy complications, which may have been mitigated by having greater access to an obstetrics provider and an equipped facility.
During the 2024 legislative session, House Bill 148 passed in the House and Senate. This bill would have closed the state’s only remaining abortion clinic — under the guise of enhancing patient safety — and would have created new regulations that require invasive vaginal ultrasounds for no medical reason.
At this time, Gov. Mark Gordon has vetoed the passing of this legislation, citing “bill add-ons” as the primary reason, as well as permitting the current count proceedings reviewing the constitutionality of abortion rights under our state constitution before additional legislation encumbers that decision.
This action does allow health care providers and women in Wyoming to breathe a bit easier for the moment, but the threat of additional attempts to hinder health care providers and remove a woman’s right to choose from her hands are still looming. This will remain the case unless we codify abortion care under our state constitution — providing women and health care providers with the access to health care and safety that they deserve.
Dr. Eggleston does a disservice to readers of WyoFile and Wyoming residents by conflating her abortion views with the state’s healthcare system challenges. She also incorrectly claims that Wyoming OB/GYN physicians are at risk of receiving criminal penalties for providing care. She fails to acknowledge that the vast majority of OB/GYN physicians eschew direct and elective abortion. That abortion is illegal in Wyoming plays no role in OB/GYN physicians’ decision to practice in the state. Dr. Eggleston incorrectly claims that Wyoming legislators are hostile to Women’s Health Care. It is more accurate to state that these very legislators are faithfully representing their constituency. The people of Wyoming and their legislators understand clearly that elective abortion is not Women’s Health Care. Rather they understand that the OB/GYN physician is entrusted with the care of TWO patients, the Mother and the Unborn Child, and that these two patients must be affirmed with dignity. Dr. Eggleston wishes to claim that Wyoming legislators are “strangling” physicians. The fact is Wyoming physicians are in the top tier of compensation in this country. As a former practicing OB/GYN physician in Fremont County and active WWAMI professor teaching medical students at Lander Regional Hospital, I had a very successful and rewarding practice. It was also rewarding to serve the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe women there. Dr. Eggleston incorrectly states that Elective Abortion is part of Women’s Health. There is nothing healthy about Elective Abortion. The overwhelming number of OB/GYN physicians know this and so judiciously choose not to provide this procedure in their practice. These same physicians do not worry about “being prosecuted for doing their jobs.”
Dr. Eggleston should be honest here. Dr. Eggleston also disingenuously suggests that the Wyoming abortion laws are responsible for pregnancy complications and maternal deaths. The people of Wyoming are smarter than this. Dr. Eggleston also suggests the Wyoming legislature was not serious about patient safety when it passed the bill that closed the only abortion clinic in the state. My own clinical experience in caring for women with complications from elective abortion clinics tells me that abortion clinics require greater oversight and monitoring of patient safety. Furthermore, abortion providers in these clinics should be subjected to the same rigorous peer review policies in place for physicians in hospitals.
The ACOG recognizes abortion as a component of reproductive health care, but for an OB-GYN I hope this would only represent a minor portion of the practice, especially since the medical approach to abortion, often initialed by non-obstetricians, is becoming more prevalent as the surgical component diminishes. It would seem reasonable to assume that the availability of a competent and well-trained OB-GYN providing safe pregnancy, childbirth and gynecologic services would be more welcome and much more in demand, especially in Wyoming.
Lawmakers don’t care
So very sad that WY legislators are running off our up and coming young people – ALL young people from those who wanted to practice healthcare to those who need the healthcare. I would also advise RUN as fast and quickly as possible and leave this state to die in the hands of the dusty, ancient, out of touch, ever more rigid white men who masquerade under the label freeDUMB caucus, some of whom won’t even openly admit their membership. I was once proud to be a long time transplant of WY as it allowed citizens to exercise their own ideas and freedoms as the EQUALITY state. No longer is that allowed and I likely will not retire here in a few years.
A fantastic piece. Thank you, Natalie, for sharing an experience that resonates with many other medical providers.
My partner, a native of the state, has recently been accepted into law school at the University of Wyoming. As we envision starting a family in the future, we are instead leaning strongly towards leaving behind a state we both love dearly in search of a place that protects a woman’s right to choose.
… but Ob/Gyns are not mentioned in the Bible nor the Cowboy Code of the West , so we can’t have any of those. I’m guessing any Midwives who are registered Democrats are also excluded.
Excellent piece – thank you.
Studies show that anywhere from 60 to 85% of WY residents from age 18 to 35 leave the state for employment elsewhere. The State Legislature only exacerbates the situation. I wish someone could introduce them to the 21st C.
I wish someone would introduce them to the 20th century.
Excellent article. So many are very backwards and uninformed
Thank you for speaking out Natalie. Wyoming is missing out on having you among our compassionate health care providers by our legislature’s draconian decisions.
As a fellow Wyoming native, I am discouraged how our home state is falling into the hands of the ultra conservative right wing. I can’t wonder anymore why we are losing our younger citizens to more progressive places to live and work.
Thanks again for your well written insight.
Run as fast as you can Miss Eggleston, the HB’s will put their thumb on you.