Anti-abortion activists fill Casper City Council meeting

CASPER — A regular Casper City Council meeting with a fairly quiet agenda turned into something different when the room filled one by one with anti-abortion activists Tuesday.

And a scheduled public comment period at the start of the meeting turned into a platform for those activists to share allegations of harassment and, for some, assault as they defended their decision to occupy the sidewalks outside and around Wellspring Health Access on 2nd Street in Casper.

Over and over again, they told councilors that they just pray, hold signs and hand roses to women going in and out of the clinic.

There was nothing on Tuesday’s agenda that even came close to touching the issue of abortion in Casper.

Councilor Brandy Haskins, in the previous week’s work session, had told her fellow councilors that she received a call from “someone here in town that has expressed that a large number of patients that have attended Wellspring’s clinic are feeling harassed and endangered.”

Since the passing of Dr. Samuel Vigneri, who was a longtime OB-GYN in Casper, some people have turned to Wellspring for their care, she said.

Every person who enters the clinic now needs an escort, Haskins said, and the caller wanted to know if there is something councilors could do.

Wellspring Health Access in Casper and the Women’s Health and Family Care Clinic in Jackson are only abortion providers in Wyoming. Wellspring opened last year following an incident in which a woman admitted to authorities that she set the building on fire.

Wellspring also provides services like birth control, gynecological care and gender-affirming care. It is the only clinic in the state that provides surgical abortions.

Two abortion bans have been blocked by a Jackson judge after lawsuits against them brought them into the courts. The judge, Melissa Owens, asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to answer questions regarding the constitutionality of those bans, but state supreme court Chief Justice Kate M. Fox sent them back, saying that Owens must rule on pending summary judgment motions first.

For now, abortion procedures remain legal in Wyoming.

Passionate activists

An article from statewide news outlet Cowboy State Daily said that Haskins’ comments sparked indignation for anti-abortion activists — specifically, those who choose to pray, hold signs and hand out roses in front of the clinic. They call themselves “sidewalk advocates.” And they are the ones getting harassed, not the other way around, they told Cowboy State Daily.

Pro-abortion activists and voices in Casper maintain in the article that they are the people being harassed.

The article came a day before the Casper City Council meeting and did not escape the attention of Mayor Stephen Cathey.

“Something that I wanted to point out,” he said after telling attendees that they could not duplicate the same message in their public comment time, “is that I know, in the [article], it said that it would be discussed tonight. We are not discussing the abortion clinic, or anything to do with that tonight. We’re not planning to at any other time at this point.”

His command did not deter activists.

One by one, they came up to the podium. And their message remained mostly the same: They were the ones being harassed. They have a right to free speech and a right to practice their religion freely, they said.

“Yes, there is harassment taking place here, but it is not the kind being portrayed by abortion supporters,” Ross Schriftman, president of Natrona County’s chapter of Wyoming Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, and a “trained sidewalk advocate,” said.

He then paused to ask his “pro-life friends” whom he had brought along to stand up. Nearly every attendee stood.

“Since abortion supporters have not been able to get us to go away, they basically defamed us and have done other things,” he said before going into allegations of harassment and assault.

Other public comments followed.

“We don’t engage them, we don’t look at them, we just pray,” one woman said, alleging that her experience praying the rosary as a sidewalk advocate has been interrupted at times by screaming, loud music and offensive gestures.

“Wellsprings talked about health care, women’s health care,” one man said. “Referring to abortion as health care is like calling slavery human resources. It’s dishonest, and it’s wrong.” He then called on Casper City Council to make a statement opposing abortions on moral grounds.

Another man asserted that the U.S. Constitution allows freedom of religion and speech in both private and public areas. He alleged that he and his wife have been harassed and physically threatened. He then asked those who supported anti-abortion efforts at the meeting to stand up once again.

“These people are gonna be hurt one day if something is not done by this council to prevent such atrocities,” he said.

“They [people associated with Wellspring Health Access] are the ones that need the civility training and the disciplinary action to be directed towards them,” yet another man said.

Councilors’ response

“I had multiple calls from patients that were not getting abortions,” Haskins said. “I had some calls from escorts. I very clearly said that in the future, after I spoke to all of those individuals, I may ask to put a work session together to see if there was something that the city should or could do,” she said. “That was not me advocating for a Wellsprings clinic.

“This was me advocating for people who said they were feeling harassed or threatened. Of the 18 of you who came here tonight who said you had been harassed or threatened, had you called me, I would have done the same.”

Haskins, who works at Rocky Mountain Infectious Disease as financial manager, said she believes she was called due to her proximity to health care.

Councilor Kyle Gamroth thanked everyone for coming. Vice Mayor Lisa Engebretsen emphasized that Casper City Council is bipartisan. And Councilor Amber Pollock said that she isn’t sure if councilors should request the topic be put on a future agenda or ask for a memo from the city attorney.

Eventually, councilors agreed to request the memo.

This story was published on October 18, 2024.