A Wyoming doctor’s fight to keep abortion legal in her deep red state

Four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the fight over abortion access continues to rage.

At least four states will ask voters in November to enact or repeal constitutional amendments protecting abortion access. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court rejected another attempt by abortion opponents to make pills for abortion more difficult to access — though other legal challenges are ongoing.

The Food and Drug Administration is doing a safety review of mifepristone — one of two drugs used in medication abortions — and President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general said he’s open to reviewing whether a 19th-century law could effectively prevent people nationwide from receiving abortion pills in the mail via telehealth.

These abortion battles have consumed Giovannina Anthony’s life for the past four years. Anthony runs a primary care and gynecology clinic in western Wyoming, about 60 miles south of Yellowstone National Park near the Idaho border. Her clinic is one of just three practices that offer abortions in the deep red state.

Anthony was one of the plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits that successfully prevented Wyoming from banning abortion outright after Roe fell, and she is involved in several active cases over new restrictions state lawmakers have passed, including requiring transvaginal ultrasounds before an abortion and banning one of the pills used in medication abortions.

“I take care of a lot of women who don’t necessarily share my politics, but on this issue, a lot of these conservative women do not believe their pregnancy should be a political issue,” Anthony said.

State judges have consistently struck down Wyoming lawmakers’ attempts to ban or restrict abortion care based on a 2012 amendment to the state’s constitution that says adults have a right to make their own healthcare decisions. As a result, abortion has remained accessible in Wyoming through “fetal viability”, which is roughly 24-26 weeks —  the same cutoff as more liberal states like California, Illinois and Hawaii. 

The number of abortions in the state has grown from an estimated 100 in 2020 to more than 500 in 2025. Anthony says that’s thanks in large part to increased access to abortion pills via telehealth, which data show have helped keep total abortion numbers steady nationwide since Roe fell, even with more than a dozen states implementing total bans.

Anthony says she knows the work to protect abortion access in Wyoming and across the country is far from over. She says she’s committed to continuing to do what she can to keep this care available for the patients she sees every day.

“They are savvy, they are strong-willed, and they do not want the government in their doctor’s office,” Anthony said of her patients. “And so I think we will prevail. But it won’t be without a fight.”

Anthony spoke with the nonprofit news organization Tradeoffs about what it’s been like to be at the center of this ongoing legal battle and provide abortion care in a time of so much legal uncertainty. 

The following highlights from that conversation have been edited for length and clarity:

On what it’s like to be an abortion provider in a deep red state:

Anthony: I’ve been called a murderer. I get some nasty emails. I get little comments here and there, but not as many as you would think. I take care of a lot of women who don’t necessarily share my politics, but on this issue, a lot of these conservative women do not believe their pregnancy should be a political issue.

I cannot tell you how many people have shown up in my office and they say, “I’m pro-life, but blah, blah, blah.’ I will provide abortion services to anyone who asks for it, but I don’t hesitate to remind them that if you have the power to choose, you cannot dictate what your neighbor, your mother [or] your sister [do]. Their reasons are irrelevant in this scenario because you made that choice. And I just want you to think about that when you go to vote, when you talk to people, when you are out in the community.

On what it’s been like to balance her clinical practice with her legal activism:

Anthony: The abortion fight since Dobbs [the 2022 Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade], honestly, has consumed my life. There’s the dealing with the attorneys and writing up declarations and participating in the legal process. And then on the clinical side, I’m seeing the patients on the ground and talking to them about what they’re going through and also talking to my colleagues in healthcare: Can we do this? Is this legal? Is this not? It’s been wild.

On how confident she is that abortion will continue to remain legal in Wyoming:

Well, I’m always looking over my shoulder a little bit. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

But I feel like I really trust the voters here. This is not a Bible Belt state. This is not the deep South. This is the Rocky Mountain West where my patients are practical, they are savvy, they are strong willed, and they do not want the government in their doctor’s office. And so I think we will prevail. But it won’t be without a fight.

On what makes her continue providing abortion care in Wyoming, despite all the challenges:

Anthony: There are so many doctors like me in blue states and on the coasts. Here I can make a difference. Here I can help women maintain their rights and bodily autonomy and provide great care where they otherwise might not get it. 

I remember [during the first Trump administration], I had been on call all night, and I’d had an extremely complicated delivery in a Cesarean section that was so difficult. And I was still in my scrubs and I had blood all over my pants. And I ran home and got on my laptop to testify in a hearing against one of these [anti-abortion] bills.

The legislator implied that I was harming people, that I was a bad person. And I just remember looking down at the blood on my pants and thinking, I am not going anywhere. I’m going to keep taking care of these gals because I know it’s the right thing to do. I’m true to the patients. And by being true to the patients, I’m true to myself. 

This story was originally produced by Tradeoffs, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on health care’s toughest choices. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to get their latest stories every Thursday morning.