A tan building with a sign out front that says "love is the language spoken here"
Wellspring Health Access in Casper is now open nearly a year after it was set on fire. This picture was taken in December 2022. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)

Wyoming now has two abortion providers. 

Wellspring Health Access opened its doors today to provide a range of services, including abortion, family planning and gynecological services. It will be the only clinic in the state offering surgical abortions but will also offer medication abortions as allowed. 

“We are delighted to finally be able to provide high quality reproductive health care, including abortion care, in the state of Wyoming,” Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart said in a press release. “It’s been a long journey, filled with obstacles and challenges, but we at Wellspring Health Access refused to give up because we believe that Wyomingites deserve access to abortion care.”

Those obstacles included a fire deliberately set last May before the clinic was able to open. A 22-year-old woman was recently arrested and charged with arson. Lorna Green reportedly told investigators she’d had nightmares and anxieties about the clinic so she decided to burn it down. 

That fire caused $290,000 in damage, according to the clinic. 

The legality of abortion access is also in flux as the state’s ban is being challenged in a district court in Jackson. Wellspring Health Access is a plaintiff in that case alongside other healthcare providers, women and an abortion access advocate. 

District Court Judge Melissa Owens has issued a temporary restraining order on the state’s near-complete ban, which she recently explained in a court filing. 

Located in Casper, Wellspring Health Access is closer to many of Wyoming’s population centers than the state’s only other abortion provider in Jackson.

Beyond abortion, the clinic will provide several types of contraception, the morning-after pill, well woman exams, obstetrician referrals, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and diseases, treatment for HIV/AIDS, pap smears and pelvic exams. 

The clinic started scheduling patients last week and will begin treating patients as soon as next week.

Madelyn Beck reports from Laramie on health and public safety. Before working with WyoFile, she was a public radio journalist reporting for NPR stations across the Mountain West, covering regional issues...

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  1. Thank you for upholding the First Amendment. No one has the right to force their religious views onto another.

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