Abortion bans set to take effect this week in Wyoming and North Dakota were temporarily blocked Wednesday by judges in those states amid lawsuits arguing that the bans violate their state constitutions. A judge in Wyoming sided with a firebombed women’s health clinic and others who argued the ban would harm health care workers and their patients, while a North Dakota judge sided with the state’s only abortion clinic, Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo. The Wyoming law was set to take effect Wednesday. The North Dakota law was set to take effect Thursday. Meanwhile, West Virginia lawmakers moved ahead with a ban amid protests and dozens speaking against the measure. During hours of debate leading up to the 69-23 vote in the Republican-dominated House of Delegates in West Virginia, the sound of screams and chants from protesters standing outside the chamber rang through the room. “Face us,” the crowd yelled. The latest court action in North Dakota and Wyoming put them among several states including Kentucky, Louisiana and Utah where judges have temporarily blocked implementation of “trigger laws” while lawsuits play out. Attorneys arguing before Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens, in Jackson, Wyoming, disagreed over whether the state constitution provided a right to abortion that would nullify the state’s abortion “trigger” law that took effect Wednesday. Owens proved most sympathetic, though, with arguments that the ban left pregnant patients with dangerous complications and their doctors in a difficult position as they balanced serious medical risks against the possibility of prosecution. “That is a possible irreparable injury to the plaintiffs. They are left with no guidance,” Owens said. Several states including Wyoming recently passed abortion “trigger” bans should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, which happened June 24. The U.S. Supreme Court formally issued its judgment Tuesday. After a more than three-week review, Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, last week gave the go-ahead for the Wyoming abortion ban he signed into law in March to take effect Wednesday but it is instead on hold after the ruling. The Wyoming law would outlaw abortions except in cases of rape or incest or to protect the mother’s life or health, not including psychological conditions. Doctors and others who provide illegal abortions under Wyoming’s new law could get up to 14 years in prison. The four Wyoming women and two nonprofits that sued Monday to contest the new law claim it violates several rights guaranteed by the state constitution. Wyoming Special Assistant Attorney General Jay Jerde was skeptical, saying the state constitution neither explicitly nor implicitly allowed abortion. “No such right exists. You can’t infringe what isn’t there,” Jerde told Owens. The lawsuit claims the abortion ban will harm the women — two obstetricians, a pregnant nurse and a University of Wyoming law student — by outlawing potentially life-saving treatment options for their patients or themselves. Those suing include a nonprofit opening a Casper women’s and LGBTQ health clinic, Wellspring Health Access, that would have offered abortions. A May arson attack has set back the clinic’s opening from mid-June until at least the end of this year. In North Dakota, Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick sided with the state’s only abortion clinic that the state had moved fast to let the law take effect. The clinic had argued that a 30-day clock should not have started until the U.S. Supreme Court issued its certified judgment on Tuesday. The ruling will give the Red River clinic more time to relocate a few miles away to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal. North Dakota’s law would make abortion illegal in the state except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Meetra Mehdizadeh, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is helping the clinic with the suit, said the plaintiffs “will do everything in our power to fight this ban and keep abortion accessible in North Dakota for as long as possible.” In West Virginia, meanwhile, lawmakers on Wednesday debated a sweeping abortion ban bill on the House floor that would make providing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The bill makes exceptions for rape or incest up to 14 weeks of gestation and for certain medical complications. Read: Judges rule on state abortion restrictions, shape Roe impact “What’s ringing in my ears is not the noise of the people here,” said one of the bill’s supporters, Republican Del. Brandon Steele of Raleigh County. “It’s the cries of the unborn, tens of thousands of unborn children that are dead today.” The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said a 19th century law banned abortion in the state. Last week, a state judge barred the state from enforcing that ban, saying it was superseded by conflicting, newer laws. Hundreds of people descended on the state Capitol for the debate. Many stood outside the House chamber and Speaker Roger Hanshaw’s office chanting and holding signs reading “we will not go quietly” and “stop stealing our health care.” Security officers escorted some from the House chambers. Dozens spoke against the bill on the House floor including Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, who was cut off and asked to step down as she started to talk about the abortion she got when she was 17. “I chose life,” she said, raising her voice to speak over the interruption. “I chose my life, because my life is sacred.”

Abortion bans that were put on the books in some states in the event Roe v. Wade was overturned started automatically taking effect Friday, while clinics elsewhere — including Alabama, Texas and West Virginia — stopped performing abortions for fear of prosecution, sending women away in tears. “Some patients broke down and could not speak through their sobbing,” said Katie Quinonez, executive director of West Virginia’s lone abortion clinic, whose staff spent the day calling dozens of patients to cancel their appointments. “Some patients were stunned and didn’t know what to say. Some patients did not understand what was happening.” America was convulsed with anger, joy, fear and confusion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. The canyon-like divide across the U.S. over the right to terminate a pregnancy was on full display, with abortion rights supporters calling it a dark day in history, while abortion foes welcomed the ruling as the answer to their prayers. Women who traveled across state lines to end a pregnancy found themselves immediately thwarted in some places as abortions were halted as a result of state laws that were triggered by the court decision or confusion over when those laws would take effect.  In eliminating the constitutional right to abortion that has stood for a half-century, the high court left the politically charged issue up to the states, about half of which are now likely to ban the procedure. Also read: Fighting Texas abortion law could be tough for federal gov’t Abortions were immediately halted in nine states. Providers in two other states, Oklahoma and South Dakota, had already stopped performing the procedure in the past month. About 73 million people live in the 11 states where the procedure was not available — more than a fifth of the U.S. population. The reaction across the country largely fell along predictable political lines. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat in a state where abortions are available with few restrictions, called the ruling a “war on women” and vowed to stand as a “brick wall” to help preserve the right. Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vowed to seek a ban on abortions after 15 weeks. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a conservative Republican widely considered a potential candidate for president in 2024, tweeted: “The Supreme Court has answered the prayers of millions upon millions of Americans.” The issue is certain to intensify the fall election season. Both sides intend to use the issue to energize supporters and get them to vote. “This country is lurching to the right, taking away rights. The voters are going to have to intervene,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the U.S. House majority whip. Some states, including Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri, had “trigger law” bans on the books that went into effect as soon as Roe fell. In Alabama, the state’s three abortion clinics stopped performing the procedure for fear providers would now be prosecuted under a law dating to 1951. At the Alabama Women’s Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, the staff had to tell women in the waiting room Friday morning that they could not perform any more abortions that day. Some had come from as far away as Texas for an appointment. “A lot of them just started breaking down crying. Can you imagine if you had driven 12 hours to receive this care in this state and you are not able to?” clinic owner Dalton Johnson said. Patients were given a list of out-of-state places still doing abortions. Abortion providers across Arizona likewise stopped doing procedures while they try to determine if a law dating to pre-statehood days — before 1912 — means doctors and nurses will face prison time now. In Texas, providers wondered which law they had to follow: a 1925 ban, a 2021 law that limits abortions to the first six weeks of pregnancy, or a trigger law that bans the procedure outright, but wouldn’t take effect for a month or more. The confusion led them to suspend abortions while they seek legal advice. Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton warned they could face immediate prosecution for performing abortions under the Prohibition-era ban, which carries two to five years in prison. It was the risk of prosecution under a 19th-century abortion ban punishable by prison that led the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to stop performing the procedure. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, said he will not hesitate to call the Legislature into special session if the ban needs to be clarified. In Ohio, a federal judge dissolved an injunction, allowing a 2019 state law to take effect banning most abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat. The high court ruling drew strong reactions around the country. Carol E. Tracy, the executive director of the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia, was “absolutely furious.” “They want women to be barefoot and pregnant once again,” she said. “But I have no doubt that women and like-minded men, and people in the LGBTQ community, who are also at great risk, ... we’re going to fight back. I think it’s going to be a long, hard fight.” Garrett Bess, who works with a lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said his group will continue to press states to restrict abortion. “We’ll be working with grassroots Americans to ensure the protection of pregnant mothers and babies,” Bess said outside the Supreme Court. “This has been a long time coming, and it’s a welcome decision.” Opinion polls show that a majority of Americans favor preserving Roe. They include Alison Dreith, 41, an abortion activist in southern Illinois, where the governor has vowed to keep the procedure accessible. She said she fears for the safety of abortion workers, especially those who help people from states where the procedure is banned. Dreith works with the Midwest Action Coalition, which offers gas money, child care and other practical support to women seeking abortions. “I absolutely believe that they will try to come after me. I’m not built for prison, but I’m ready,” she said, “and I say, ‘Let’s do this.’ You want to pick that fight with me? I’m fighting back.” People on both sides of the emotional issue took to the streets to protest or rejoice, gathering in parks, on steps of state Capitols, on sidewalks outside courthouses and at abortion clinics. In Omaha, Nebraska, about 50 abortion opponents rallied at a federal courthouse, vowing to pressure lawmakers to outlaw the procedure. A few miles away, more than 1,000 abortion-rights supporters lined a busy street and a bridge overlooking traffic at rush hour, saying they would try to keep abortion legal in the state despite its heavy conservative leanings. They held up signs and shouted as passing motorists honked. In Little Rock, Arkansas, a man in a crowd of more than 100 people held up a sign that said “Abort the Supreme Court.” Outside Planned Parenthood in St. Louis, Missouri, abortion foes held a victory celebration. “I never thought I would live to see this day,” said Mary McMahan, 64, who has been active in the movement since childhood and has spent many hours on the sidewalk outside the clinic praying. “But here it is. Thank God it is here.” Emma Garland, 18, of Freeburg, Illinois, showed up to support Planned Parenthood, saying she was scared her rights were being “stripped away.” “I thought we had more faith in our country as a whole not to overturn it, but we lost that faith today,” Garland said.