Dear editor: 

Unborn children in Wyoming continue to be in grave peril and lose their lives in droves due to the ruling by Judge Melissa Owens that abortion is health care — an opinion not shared by a  large number of Wyomingites.  

At the center of this lawsuit is an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution, Article 1 Section  38(a) which states: Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions. The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.  

Article 1 Section 38(c) goes on, however: The Legislature may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions on the rights granted under this section to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution. 

Wyoming citizens may well have rued the day they voted for this constitutional amendment, the  purpose of which was to protect themselves from such intrusions as Obamacare and, subsequently, medical mandates such as unproven and improperly tested vaccines. 

Article 1 Section 38(c) gives the Legislature power over necessary restrictions. Under current Wyoming law, these restrictions disallow euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide and use of  medical marijuana. The two abortion-restriction laws passed in 2023 were intended to come  under this same umbrella. 

Article 1 Section 38(c) also states that the Legislature may “accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution.” How about Article 1, Section 2. Equality of all. In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal. Now the question arises as to whether we believe that unborn children are members of the human race. Let us hope that, as this lawsuit works its way through the Supreme Court, those justices so decide. 

Sheila Leach 

Cody