Wyoming is losing its OB-GYN clinics. Colorado is picking up the slack

Colorado has been a primary abortion provider for patients from Wyoming for years. Jack Teter with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) says those numbers have only increased since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, which ended the federal constitutional right to abortion.

“Any time an abortion provider has to end services, there’s a ripple impact across communities.” says Teter. And so I think one thing we’re seeing in this world is a contraction, and a contraction, and a contraction of care. I know that in the last year, PPRM has seen about 300 patients from Wyoming for abortion care in Colorado. And I think those numbers will only increase as people in Wyoming lose additional access.”

This fall in particular, access to women’s health care in Jackson, Wyoming got a jolt. The Women’s Health and Family Care clinic announced it’s closing later this month after three decades, citing rising costs as the region experiences a crisis of affordability. It’s the second women’s health center to close this year in Jackson — leaving just one major OB-GYN clinic left in town. With the state’s abortion bans being challenged in the courts, there are real questions about the future of reproductive care in Teton County and Wyoming.

On this segment, you’ll hear from several women in Jackson Hole about how they are feeling right now on the state of care in Jackson. That’s followed up by a conversation between KGNU and Report for America’s Jackie Sedley and Jack Teter, the Regional Director of Government Affairs at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

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The first audio postcard was produced by Jackson Home Community Radio reporter Hanna Merzbach. It was shared with us via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including KGNU.