Court decision: Lucky 13

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bortion is no longer a constitutional right in the United States of America.
The long-anticipated (and previously leaked) decision from the U.S.  Supreme Court became official late last week, and it sparked the expected protests and celebrations that have seemingly become obligatory anytime something of political significance happens in this country.
But once the smoke (literally) clears from the country’s knee-jerk reaction to something that is going to have an impact on one of our more polarizing political issues, it really will be time to roll up our sleeves and get to work to make sure the country benefits from the decision — regardless of which side of the debate you’re on.
We know there are those who immediately began plotting ways to reverse this decision, and there are just as many on the “other side” who want to seize the momentum from overturning Roe vs. Wade to push forward and gain other advantages in the culture war.
But we hope that both sides may quickly come together to ensure that the decision has real meaning — and produces real benefits to the countless lives that will be affected by it.
“The Supreme Court ruling is bound to stir the emotions and fears of many people—whether pro-life or pro-abortion, but now is the time for all people of good will to engage in reasonable discourse and decision making. We also must encourage all people, including our state legislators, to advocate for services that will support families and accompany women experiencing unplanned pregnancies by providing resources and assistance so that children will be welcomed into the world with love and provided essential care that all human persons deserve,” Bishop Steven Biegler of Wyoming’s Roman Catholic Diocese said in the wake of the decision.
We couldn’t agree more.
It has been estimated that the number of abortions in the United States will actually only decrease by 13% as a result of the ruling — which did not make abortion illegal but gave the right to determine its legality back to the individual states. 
The impact of the ruling may be greater or less than 13% in Wyoming due to the fact that the only place to get an abortion in this state prior to the ruling was in Jackson, but regardless of what the actual number may turn out to be, we really are talking about lives — of both babies and mothers — so any number is significant.
If it has been worth it to fight so hard over those lives for so many years, then it should be more than worth it for us to work just as hard now to help guarantee a higher quality to those lives.
It is hard to argue that the vast majority of mothers who consider abortion do so because they anticipate additional strain and hardships, on both their lives and the lives of their unborn babies, and with the option of abortion now gone in Wyoming we hope our leaders consider measures to decrease that strain and provide relief from those hardships.
We hope our state will lead the way in identifying solutions to the very real challenges of making child care and health care more accessible to these new mothers and babies, and that Wyoming officials will finally step up and address other persistent problems, such as the lack of mental health providers and the need for juvenile justice reform.
Perhaps, most importantly, Wyoming should be a trailblazer in finding ways to make the option of adoption easier and more affordable (i.e., as close to free as possible) for all involved.
These are just of few of the issues that will require action even more urgently now because the Supreme Court ruling will indeed extend the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to a greater number of people, but we think our state is particularly well positioned to use this historic moment to set an example of truly good government by being proactive in addressing ALL of the consequences of this decision.
The best way to make sure the vast majority of those consequences are positive for Wyoming and its people is to take steps now to give the best possible chance of success to the new mothers created by the ruling, and to provide the best possible lives to the babies that we will be blessed with in the future because of it.