'I want to be their voice': Pro-choice protestors rally at Wyoming Capitol

Jul. 1—CHEYENNE — Supporters of abortion rights flocked to the front of the Wyoming State Capitol Thursday evening, eager to join with other pro-choice residents to protest the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade and the imminent state law that will ban nearly all abortions.

Chants of "Vote them out" and "Abort the court" periodically took over in sections of the crowd, which filled the entire concrete space in front of the Capitol steps and spilled over onto the lawn and sidewalk. An organizer said 500 people had registered for the event.

The U.S. Supreme Court last Friday reversed Roe, a case that for nearly 50 years guaranteed the federal right to an abortion. The decision means each state can now decide whether to allow abortion and under what circumstances.

As of Thursday afternoon, 11 states had banned or mostly banned abortion, according to a Washington Post map, and courts had at least temporarily blocked legislation in three of them. Four other states, including Wyoming, are expected to outlaw the procedure soon.

Heavy rain visited off and on throughout the nearly two-hour demonstration, leaving many of the poster board-and-marker signs smeared and dripping. Most of the crowd stayed put, some donning raincoats or ponchos. Others stood defiantly in jeans and T-shirts.

Cheyenne resident Kaylin Shade stood in the midst of the throng. She held a large handmade sign, covered in plastic, that read: "Hell hath no fury like women scorned."

In an interview, Shade said that without abortion, she wouldn't be here.

"My mom had two (abortions) before me," the 21-year-old said. "One (pregnancy) was life threatening; the other (abortion) was because she was simply too young. And without those choices, she would have never been able to create the life she did, to raise a daughter like me."

Shade said she was at the rally "for women like my mom, women who have not come forward, women who are scared and terrified and can't do things like this."

"I want to be their voice," she said.

Trigger law

Wyoming legislators earlier this year passed House Bill 92, known as a "trigger law" and that is meant to go into effect after Roe was reversed. The law prohibits abortion except in cases of sexual assault, incest or a serious risk of harm to the pregnant person.

The purpose of the rally, organized by Wyoming Women's March and Wyoming Equality, was "to speak out against the abortion trigger ban bill and call on Governor (Mark) Gordon and the Legislature to respect the Wyoming Constitution, specifically Article I, Section 38, which reads, 'Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions,'" according to a news release.

Shade called the state law "horrifying." She expected the Roe decision "will absolutely not be the end" in limiting the rights of women and other vulnerable populations.

The state's sole abortion provider is Women's Health and Family Care in Jackson. It provides medication abortions, which can be used up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. The procedure costs $600, according to Chelsea's Fund, a Wyoming-based nonprofit that helps women pay for abortions.

JustThePill.com also ships abortion pills to Wyoming addresses following a telehealth appointment. This costs $350.

There are no surgical abortion providers in Wyoming. This type of abortion can be obtained much further into a pregnancy.

A Casper clinic that had said it would offer abortion is still set to open in coming months after a fire damaged the building. The incident is being investigated as arson.

Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill has 30 days to review the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe. The governor must then certify it. The law would then likely go into effect within days.

Gordon has signaled his support for high court's recent decision on abortion and for Wyoming's trigger law.

'Not what I fought for'

Sara Burlingame, a former legislator and current Democratic candidate in House District 44, kicked off more than an hour of speakers. She told the crowd that if counter-protestors attempted to interrupt the rally, the pro-choice crowd should begin singing Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun."

"We aren't here for them — we're here for us," Burlingame said.

Laramie County Democratic Party Chair Ben Rowland told the crowd that attorneys across the state are organizing "to fight back as soon as we possibly can." He asked any lawyers interested in joining to contact him, as well as anyone who may be harmed by Wyoming's law to become a potential plaintiff.

Sixteen-year-olds Harley Wahl and Sky Moore stood next to one another at the rally.

"I think that even if you're not pro-choice or pro-abortion, you should at least accept that people need to have them in some circumstances," Moore said.

Wahl chimed in: "It's going to happen whether it's legalized or not, and I think it's important for it to be safe if it is going to happen."

Another teenager, 17-year-old Kensie Sherard, had gathered with eight of her friends. She said she was there for herself, her younger sister, "and all of the women around me that are fighting for our rights to abortion and health care and our bodily autonomy."

Sherard said she first began learning about the Supreme Court through former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "one of my biggest inspirations."

"When Trump replaced her immediately, I got really pissed off, and I knew that our rights would be stripped away from us soon," Sherard said of ex-President Donald Trump.

Candy Snead, 39, called an attempt by anti-abortion activists in the state to eliminate abortion exceptions for things like rape or incest "abuse to women."

"I served in the military, and this is not what I fought for," Snead said.

U.S. Air Force veteran Grant Rogers held a picket sign that on one side pictured Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. Over the photos were the words "Maybe we don't let sexual predators decide what women can do with their bodies" in red type. Rogers carried a similar sign at another rally in Cheyenne, held after the draft court decision was leaked and before it was finalized.

"It's infuriating," Rogers said Thursday evening, that Roe was overturned when about 70% of the country supported it.

"It undermines the ideas of the country. It undermines the ideas of this state," he said. "You shouldn't be able to put 'this is the equality state' on your flag when that's just obviously not the case."

Janet Cunningham, 79, wore a red cloak and white bonnet, mimicking clothing worn by women forced to bear children in "The Handmaid's Tale" book and TV series. Although she joked that she was "a little too old to be a handmaid," she said she was at the rally because "I am worried about everybody else's" reproductive rights. Earlier this year, there was a mini-protest also at the state Capitol, with the anonymous protestors dressed as handmaids.

Cunningham said she called the governor and asked him not to sign the state's trigger bill, "but he didn't pay attention," she said, chuckling.

Although she never read "The Handmaid's Tale" book by Margaret Atwood, Cunningham said she watched every episode of the TV show, despite how "brutal" it was.

"And now I see our country is headed that direction," she said, becoming emotional. "It terrifies me. I'm scared to death."

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.