The Wyoming Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court decision holding that a state law generally banning abortion and a separate law that prohibited the use of abortion pills are unconstitutional.

Wyoming passed the abortion bans in 2022, which included one total ban unless a situation of rape or incest occurred, and one banning abortion pills, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court. This made Wyoming the first state to ban abortion pills.

In the Wyoming Supreme Court’s 4-1 decision, Chief Justice Boomgaarden sided with the petitioners, which included Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access, as well as two obstetricians, four women, and an abortion access advocacy group, the Chelsea Fund. The petitioners’ main argument stemmed from Article 1, §38 of the Wyoming constitution, which guarantees each Wyoming citizen “the right to make his or her own health care decisions,” and directs the state of Wyoming “to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.”

Petitioners argued that to ban access to abortion would violate this constitutional right. The state of Wyoming disagreed, arguing that they were not violating this constitutional right because abortions are not a form of healthcare. The court concluded that while Article 1, §38 was not passed with abortion access in mind, it still, applies, stating:

Although we recognize the State’s interest in protecting the life that an abortion would end, we conclude the State did not meet its burden of justifying the abortion statutes’ restrictions on a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, as is expressly protected by the Wyoming Constitution.

The court concluded by stating that it was not their job to “add words” to the state constitution, keeping the door open for “lawmakers [to] ask Wyoming voters to consider a constitutional amendment that would more clearly address this issue.” Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said that he was “disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s ruling, and called upon state lawmakers to consider a constitutional amendment that would go before voters this fall.