How will Wyoming enforce its new anti-abortion law?

The Human Heartbeat Act, Wyoming’s newest abortion ban, is a criminal statute, meaning the state has authority to bring legal action against alleged violations. Law enforcement would investigate after receiving a report, and a county attorney would decide if criminal charges are merited. An investigation could include examining a patient’s medical records, which would require authorities to navigate HIPAA privacy laws.

Wyoming law enforcement doesn’t have administrative subpoena powers, said Allen Thompson of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police. Without that authority, they can’t force people to testify or hand over documents without judicial approval. “We would have to get a search warrant signed by a judge and serve that search warrant upon whoever has the records,” Thompson said. “The court would then, through that warrant, mandate the release of those documents.”

Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, the only clinic in Wyoming that offers procedural abortions, said if the clinic were met with a request for a patient’s medical information, it would “run it through the legal tracks, through our counsel to make sure that that request was actually something that we could honor.” She added, “It’s always been our practice to fight tooth and nail for the confidentiality and privacy of our patients.”

The law bars abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which can occur around six weeks. While the law doesn’t explicitly require a specific detection technique, Burkhart said the clinic interprets it as a mandate to use transvaginal ultrasounds. That could present ethical quandaries for physicians. A Cheyenne OB-GYN noted that conducting a transvaginal ultrasound on someone who has been sexually assaulted could be “inappropriate” given the trauma.

A court hearing to decide whether to add the Heartbeat Act to an ongoing lawsuit against other anti-abortion laws is set for Monday. Enforcement of those other laws is on hold while litigation proceeds.