Wyoming Right to Life, legislators seek to intervene in defense of state pro-life law

ADF attorneys file motion in Teton County District Court

JACKSON, Wyo. – On behalf of two Wyoming legislators and Right to Life of Wyoming, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a motion Tuesday at the District Court of the 9th Judicial District in Teton County to intervene in a lawsuit to defend a state law that protects unborn children.

In anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Wyoming enacted a law that seeks to preserve the lives of innocent, unborn babies and the health and safety of mothers. However, before the law could go into effect, abortion activists filed a lawsuit, Johnson v. State of Wyoming, challenging the law and prompting Wyoming Representatives Rachel Rodriguez-Williams and Chip Neiman, along with Right to Life of Wyoming, to ask the court for permission to intervene so they can provide arguments and evidence that there is no state constitutional right to an abortion and that abortion harms women and unborn children.

“The state of Wyoming is eager to protect life and uphold its law that seeks to preserve the lives of children and support mothers,” said ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle, director of the ADF Center for Life. “Women deserve real health care, unborn babies deserve a chance to live, and states like Wyoming deserve the long-awaited opportunity to affirm that life is a human right.”

As the brief in support of the motion to intervene explains, “The Legislators and Wyoming Right to Life would provide expert evidence and testimony to show the harms to women and unborn children from abortion itself, which evidence rebuts the claim that elective abortion is properly considered health care.” The motion also states that proposed intervenors “seek intervention to protect and defend their interests, which include preserving the authority of the Legislature to protect unborn life, protect the health and safety of women, and regulate the medical profession—as well as advocating for laws that respect the sanctity of human life.”

ADF attorneys are working in several other states to defend pro-life laws, including Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia.

• Pronunciation guide: Harle (HAR'-lee)

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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