Natrona County District Judge Dan Forgey on Friday temporarily halted enforcement of Wyoming’s newest anti-abortion law while a legal challenge against it proceeds.
The law in question, which was passed by the Wyoming Legislature during the 2026 session and took effect in March, bans abortion in all but the earliest days of pregnancy. More specifically, the “heartbeat” law makes abortion illegal beyond approximately the sixth week of pregnancy, when it’s first possible to detect fetal cardiac activity.
The plaintiffs in the case, which include the few providers who perform abortions in Wyoming, argue the law is unconstitutional due to language in the state constitution that protects an individual’s right to make their own health care decisions.
Those protections were also the basis for the Wyoming Supreme Court’s January decision to strike down two previous abortion bans.
Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz argued at a Wednesday hearing that the new law fits within the bounds of the Wyoming Constitution and the high court’s decision. He also pushed back on the plaintiffs’ argument that the law was too ambiguous and that detection of a heartbeat was an arbitrary point to enforce restrictions.
The plaintiffs, however, “made a sufficient showing of irreparable injury,” Judge Forgey wrote in his Friday decision temporarily halting the law’s enforcement.
“The state defendants did not persuasively argue otherwise,” he wrote.
Forgey also pointed to the high court’s January ruling, known as the Johnson case.
“The plaintiffs have on this record made a sufficient showing of probable success that justifies their request for temporary injunctive relief, particularly when the statues at issue are evaluated and considered according to Article 1, [Section] 38 of the Wyoming Constitution, and how the Wyoming Supreme Court applied it in Johnson.”
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
