This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
Updated 2/27/25 at 8:39 p.m. with information regarding Wellspring’s lawsuit.
A bill requiring clinics providing procedural abortions to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers was signed by Gov. Mark Gordon on Feb. 27. It goes into effect immediately.
HB 42 will likely cause the closure of the only such clinic in the state, Wellspring Health Access in Casper.
It mandates the clinic’s physicians to get admitting privileges for their patients at a hospital no more than 10 miles away from Wellspring. It also requires the clinic to renovate doorways and halls.
“I am frankly shocked and incredibly disappointed,” Julie Burkhart, the clinic’s founder and president, told Wyoming Public Radio in an interview after the bill was signed. “This is a bill that the governor vetoed last year in March of 2024, and we have virtually the same bill in front of him. Also we have an ongoing court case.”
That court case concerns two near-total bans on abortion that were struck down by a Teton County district judge last year. It’s due to go before the state Supreme Court for oral arguments in the spring, according to Burkhart.
She said Wellspring’s lawyers will sue to stop HB 42. In a press release after the bill became law, she wrote that “We will be filing a lawsuit seeking a restraining order to stop this unjust law from being enacted. And know this: We are here, and we are not backing down.”
She said patients who are scheduled to have procedural abortions in the coming days will have their appointments disrupted, including those from out of state.
“I am terrified for our patients and would-be patients,” Burkhart said.
At a recent press conference, Burkhart said that the number of patients visiting Wellspring went up by 214% from 2023 to 2024, in part due to patients from other states.
“This has great immediate impact on [them],” Burkhart said.
Those patients include people who are seeking reproductive healthcare, not necessarily just those who are looking for procedural or medication abortions.
“I need to consult with our team and decide exactly how we’re going to take next steps, but I can say that it is our intention to continue to provide services in the state of Wyoming,” Burkhart said. “So we will be looking at our options that will allow us to do that.”
She added that staff at Wellspring remain committed to their jobs.
“We are a tenacious bunch,” Burkhart said. “We’ve talked about this, and we’ve prepared for this. People are going to be in this for the long haul as well.”
The clinic was set on fire in 2022 and protested by anti-abortion activists on a weekly basis since it reopened in 2023.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
