Letter to the Editor 1/27/2026 Wyoming should uphold the definition of health care that includes abortion.

Dear Casper,

Abortion is an incredibly charged topic here in Wyoming and across the country. Recently, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that abortion is health care. In my opinion, this ruling is spot on. Now, we are seeing the Wyoming Attorney General challenge the ruling, and we have heard the governor call on the legislature for a constitutional amendment. In light of this, we need to define health care.

The definition of health care, according to Merriam-Webster, is “efforts made to maintain, restore, or promote someone’s physical, mental, or emotional well-being…” Abortion is exactly that.

Let’s look at efforts to maintain, restore or promote physical health. Pregnancy is dangerous. The Centers for Disease Control reports that from 2018 to 2022, the U.S. maternal mortality rate nearly doubled. Many conditions can occur during pregnancy and delivery that are fatal to the pregnant person and potentially to the fetus. Think of things like pulmonary embolism, hypertensive disorders, postpartum hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy. These are just some of the common dangers. A study published by ScienceDirect states that “induced abortion is much safer than staying pregnant, and denying wanted abortions forcibly exposes pregnant people to a higher risk of mortality.”

Another factor to consider is that pregnant women are more likely to die of intimate partner violence than any pregnancy-related medical cause in the U.S., and are at greater risk for violent death compared with nonpregnant women. This fact alone speaks to the physical and emotional dangers of pregnancy.

Next, we must examine mental and emotional well-being. A whole study was published in 2020 discussing exactly this. It’s called the Turnaway Study. This study examines the consequences of being denied an abortion on women’s lives. The study states, “receiving an abortion does not harm the health and well-being of women, but in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health, and family outcomes.” 95% of people said that having an abortion was right for them.

The Turnaway study also found serious consequences of being denied an abortion on women’s socio-economic status. Women who were denied a wanted abortion and then were forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term had four times greater odds of living below the federal poverty level. Because of this, these people are more likely to rely on social safety nets, like SNAP and WIC. While there is absolutely no harm in relying on these programs, our legislators are trying to gut them, too. To be clear, socio-economic status has a significant bearing on a person’s physical and emotional health. Abortion access could take some of the financial toll off of communities. If we stop creating situations that require social safety nets, then we won’t need to allocate as much money to fund them.

This letter is truly the very tip of the iceberg in discussing abortion. With that said, abortion absolutely is health care.

Writing in Solidarity for a Better Wyoming Future,

Betsy Erickson

Casper

Oil City News