This story is part of a collaborative legislative initiative by WyoFile, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Sheridan Press and Jackson Hole News&Guide to deliver comprehensive coverage of Wyoming’s 2026 budget session.
As the Wyoming Legislature convened Monday morning, lawmakers began making clear their plans to legislate on abortion this winter.
“Protecting life is among the most serious responsibilities entrusted to government,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in his State of the State address. “The question of abortion deserves careful deliberation. I urge the Legislature to take up this issue earnestly and put forward a genuine solution to the voters of Wyoming that provides a clear, irrefutable, durable and morally sound resolution to this fraught issue.
“Life is sacred,” Gordon added.
Far-right conservative lawmakers kicked off the budget session with a “prayer for life” in front of the Wyoming Supreme Court as the sun rose over Capitol Avenue. The demonstration came in response to justices striking down two abortion bans last month.
But only certain Wyoming Freedom Caucus-aligned Republicans were invited.
Gordon, for example, was not invited to a “pro-life caucus” gathering in the Wyoming Capitol rotunda and the prayer outside of the Supreme Court, his team said. Many other traditional and less far-right lawmakers were similarly left out. But lawmakers in both camps were all still less than 20 feet away from one another in the early morning, with the Freedom Caucus praying on the Supreme Court lawn and the more “moderate” conservatives inside, mingling with justices and court staff.
Throughout the rest of the day, abortion was addressed in speeches and press conferences by executive, judicial and legislative leadership. The Speaker of the Wyoming House filed a bill that would restrict the procedure except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy, in what is often known as a “heartbeat bill.” Meanwhile, a Teton County Democrat said he plans to file a bill to protect the procedure. And Freedom Caucus leaders have pledged to consider other restrictive legislation.
The Caucus
The “pro-life caucus” gathering started at 7 a.m. Monday. Before heading to the Supreme Court, more than 60 people gathered in the Wyoming Capitol rotunda to hear Freedom Caucus leaders express their deep disappointment with the Wyoming Supreme Court’s recent ruling. In the crowd, Freedom Caucus representatives stood alongside their allies in the Wyoming Senate, pro-life activists and Republican gubernatorial candidates Megan Degenfelder and Joseph Kibler.
House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, said the Supreme Court decision left Wyoming with “the most unrestricted” abortion rights in the nation. While abortion is still protected in Wyoming, the Center for Reproductive Rights has documented at least 11 other states that are expanding abortion access, like California and New York.
“We are on a level with China and North Korea,” he told the crowd. “It is mind numbing to me that a child that can survive outside the womb easily can easily have its life ended in Wyoming.”
Neiman, a Freedom Caucus member, filed the “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortions when fetuses have a “detectable heartbeat,” except in medical emergencies. Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, who represents part of Teton County, co-sponsored the bill.
“I’ll always stand with life,” Dockstader said in a text Monday morning.
Later, on the Wyoming Supreme Court lawn, Pastor Nathan Winters, a former lawmaker and founder of the Wyoming Family Alliance, prayed in front of a hand-held banner depicting Jesus saying, “I created you! Choose life!”
“The majority of Wyoming is with us,” Winters said. “Lord, it shows in the deep sadness. Around 72% of the state is horrified by the decision made behind us here.”
Lawmakers and pro-life advocates said they were confident the majority of the state wanted abortion banned. But, by press time Monday, no lawmaker had filed a bill calling for a constitutional amendment to address the issue at the center of the Supreme Court’s ruling: The Wyoming Constitution guarantees Equality State adults the right to make their own health care decisions.
The ‘moderates’
Inside the Supreme Court, many legislators who aren’t affiliated with the Freedom Caucus met with court officials, including Supreme Court justices. The legislative breakfast is always held on the first or second day of the session. Press was not allowed in.
Gordon attended alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Eric Barlow, R- Gillette, and a handful of Teton County representatives, like Rep. Mike Yin and Sen. Mike Gierau, both Jackson Democrats.
Yin, D-Jackson, plans to file his own abortion bill, intending to reinstate the “viability standard” that governed Wyoming abortions in the past. Given that there are only eight Democrats in the 93-lawmaker Legislature — and that the Freedom Caucus controls the House of Representative — Yin’s bill faces long odds.
“It recognizes that pregnancy is complicated and trusts our health care providers and families to make the right choice for their circumstances,” he said.
Some legislators who attended the Supreme Court breakfast had to walk around the “prayer for life” in order to get in. They also saw the final moments of the gathering when they left.
When asked why they didn’t attend, a handful of lawmakers said they already planned to go to the breakfast or weren’t invited. Yin and Gierau were in that camp, as was Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, who is not in the Freedom Caucus.
“You have to know about something first to attend,” Larsen said.
A few hours later, Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden addressed criticism and political threats from the Freedom Caucus and others in her state of the judiciary speech.
Wyoming judges take ethical rules very seriously, including prohibitions on publicly discussing or defending decisions, she said. Judges decide on issues as they are presented, even ones that are “difficult, emotional and fraught with all the failings of human beings”
“We may not like the outcome the law demands. But whether we like the outcome or not, we can sleep at night because we follow the oath we took to uphold the law,” she said. “This is the only way the system can guarantee that every citizen who enters the courtroom will be treated the same and will be subject to the same law as their neighbor, regardless of their politics or the politics in the governor’s office or the Wyoming State Legislature.”
As she finished her speech, Boomgaarden said she would feel “cowardly and complicit” if she didn’t address an “uncomfortable reality.”
“The public has heard rhetoric suggesting retaliation against or defunding of courts because of the outcome in one high profile case,” she said. “There is no greater threat to a stable system of government than the weakening of the judicial branch for political gain.”