| Yes: | 181984 |
| No: | 54405 |
| Total: | 250701 |
| Country: | Wyoming |
| Question: | The adoption of this amendment will provide that the right to make health care decisions is reserved to the citizens of the state of Wyoming. It permits any person to pay and any health care provider to receive direct payment for services. The amendment permits the legislature to place reasonable and necessary restrictions on health care consistent with the purposes of the Wyoming Constitution and provides that this state shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement. |
Constitutional Amendment A was a Wyoming Constitutional Amendment which was passed in 2012, principally in opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The amendment was primarily sponsored by Wyoming State Senator Leslie Nutting (7th district)[1] intended to prohibit people from being compelled to participate in the ACA.[2] Opponents of the amendment said that the amendment would disallow healthcare access to many Wyoming residents,[3] and that the amendment would have unintended consequences.
The amendment created a new Section 38 within Article 1 of the Wyoming constitution entitled "Right of health care access".[4] Amongst other things, the amendment created the following line within the Wyoming Constitution:
| For | 181,984 | 76.9 | |
| Against | 54,405 | 23.0 | |
| Invalid or blank votes | 14,312 | 5.7 | |
| Total | 250,701 | 100 |
Following the US Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, state legislatures were allowed to regulate any aspect of abortion. The Wyoming State Legislature passed HB92, a trigger law that would ban abortion beginning five days after the overturn of Roe v. Wade.[5] The amendment had the unintended impact of allowing a lawsuit against HB92 that alleged that HB92 violated the state constitution by denying competent individuals the right to make their own health care decisions.[6] [7] [8]