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Wellspring Health Access

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Wellspring Health Access
FoundedApril 2023
FounderJulie Burkhart
TypeReproductive health clinic
Location
  • Casper, Wyoming, U.S.
ServicesProcedural and medication abortion; reproductive health care
Key people
Julie Burkhart (founder and president); Katie Knutter (executive director)
Websitehttps://wellspringaccess.org/
Formerly called
Circle of Hope Health Care Services

Wellspring Health Access is a reproductive health care clinic in Casper, Wyoming. It is the only clinic in Wyoming that provides procedural (surgical) abortions, and it also offers medication abortion and other reproductive health services.[1][2] Founded by abortion-rights advocate Julie Burkhart, the clinic opened in April 2023, nearly a year later than planned after an arson attack badly damaged the building in 2022.[1][3] Since opening, Wellspring has been a central plaintiff in litigation challenging a series of Wyoming abortion restrictions, and its operations have repeatedly paused and resumed as those laws have taken effect and been blocked by the courts.[4][5]

History

Wellspring was founded by Julie Burkhart, who had previously established the Wichita, Kansas, abortion provider Trust Women following the 2009 murder of physician George Tiller, for whom she had worked. Burkhart left Trust Women in 2021 and launched a new organization, initially called Circle of Hope Health Care Services and later renamed Wellspring Health Access.[6][7] The Washington, D.C.-based organization chose Casper for its central location and interstate access, aiming to serve a region with limited abortion access spanning parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana.[6]

Delayed from a planned mid-2022 opening by the arson, Wellspring opened in April 2023 as the first clinic to offer surgical abortions in Wyoming in at least a decade; a Middlebury College researcher cited by the Washington Post described it as the only new clinic to open in a state seeking to restrict abortion in the period after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.[1][2]

Arson attack

In the early morning of May 25, 2022, weeks before Wellspring's planned opening, a person broke a window, poured gasoline inside the building, and set it on fire.[8][2] The fire caused about $300,000 in damage and delayed the clinic's opening by roughly ten months.[1][9] Investigators made little progress until a reward was raised to $15,000, and in March 2023 they arrested Lorna Roxanne Green, a 22-year-old Casper College student who told federal agents she opposed abortion and that the planned clinic had caused her anxiety.[10][9] Green pleaded guilty to a federal arson charge in June 2023 and was sentenced that September to five years in prison and three years of probation, having faced up to 20 years.[9] In December 2023, she was ordered to pay about $298,000 in restitution, including amounts to the clinic's insurer, the building's owner, and Burkhart.[11]

Services

Wellspring provides procedural abortions up to about 23 weeks and six days of pregnancy, along with medication abortion and a range of other reproductive health services, including gynecological exams, contraception, cancer screenings, and hormone therapy for transgender patients.[4][2] As of late 2024, the clinic reported employing six traveling physicians along with additional clinical staff and said it had served more than 700 patients since opening; many patients travel long distances, including from out of state.[4][12]

Wellspring is one of a group of plaintiffs — including the abortion-fund nonprofit Chelsea's Fund and several individuals, among them two obstetricians — that has challenged successive Wyoming abortion laws since 2022. The plaintiffs' central argument rests on a 2012 amendment to the Wyoming Constitution guaranteeing adults the right to make their own health care decisions.[4][13] After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Wyoming enacted a near-total abortion ban and a first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills, both of which were blocked by the courts.[14] A district court found the bans unconstitutional in 2024, and in January 2026 the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed that ruling in a 4–1 decision.[15][13]

In 2025, the state enacted a law requiring clinics that provide surgical abortions to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers, along with an ultrasound requirement; Wellspring suspended abortion services in February 2025 before a judge blocked the laws that April, allowing the clinic to resume.[16][5] In March 2026, Wyoming enacted the Human Heartbeat Act, which bans most abortions after roughly six weeks; the clinic's patient load fell sharply before a judge issued a temporary restraining order against the law in April 2026.[12][17] Governor Mark Gordon, who opposes abortion, signed several of the measures while repeatedly urging lawmakers to place a constitutional amendment before voters to settle the issue.[17][15] The repeated legal battles have strained the clinic financially; Wellspring has cited hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue and legal fees and has turned to fundraising during periods when it could not provide abortions.[18]

Leadership

Julie Burkhart is Wellspring's founder and president. She has operated abortion clinics in several states, co-owns Hope Clinic in Illinois, and was named to TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People and its TIME100 Health lists in 2025.[19][3] Katie Knutter serves as the clinic's executive director.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Gruver, Mead (April 20, 2023). "Wyoming abortion clinic opens despite arson, legal obstacles". Associated Press.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "America's unlikeliest abortion clinic has opened in its reddest state". The Washington Post. June 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lee, Chantelle (May 8, 2025). "Julie Burkhart". TIME100 Health 2025. TIME.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Klingsporn, Katie (December 4, 2024). "Casper abortion clinic buoyed by court victory, but battle isn't over". WyoFile.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "A Wyoming judge suspends abortion clinic regulations while a lawsuit proceeds". CNN. Associated Press. April 21, 2025.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Thomas, Judy (May 6, 2022). "Founder of Kansas clinic to open new facility in 'abortion desert,' despite Roe news". The Kansas City Star.
  7. ↑ "About Wellspring Health Access". Wellspring Health Access.
  8. ↑ Mackie, Kyle (May 26, 2022). "Officials investigating suspected arson at new abortion-providing clinic in Casper". KHOL.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Woman who torched Wyoming abortion clinic sentenced to five years in prison". The Guardian. Associated Press. September 28, 2023.
  10. ↑ Szal, Roxanne (March 7, 2023). "Arsonist in Wyoming Abortion Clinic Arrested". Ms. Magazine.
  11. ↑ "Woman who set Wyoming's only full-service abortion clinic on fire ordered to pay $298,000". NBC News. Associated Press. December 27, 2023.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Neff, Cy (March 15, 2026). "Wyoming's new six-week abortion ban prompts lawsuit". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Tjan, Lawrence (January 7, 2026). "Wyoming Abortion Laws Ruled Unconstitutional Under State Health Care Rights Provision". Law Commentary.)
  14. ↑ "Judge temporarily blocks Wyoming's 1st-in-the-nation abortion pill ban". NPR. Associated Press. June 23, 2023.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Aron, Hillel (January 6, 2026). "Wyoming Supreme Court overturns state abortion ban". Courthouse News Service.
  16. ↑ "Casper women's health clinic moves abortion measures lawsuit to Teton County". Oil City News. March 11, 2025.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Wyoming judge blocks law that bans all but earliest abortions". Colorado Politics. Associated Press. May 3, 2026.
  18. ↑ Maya Shimizu Harris (May 5, 2026). "Casper abortion clinic braces for mifepristone decision". WyoFile.
  19. ↑ Alter, Charlotte (April 16, 2025). "Julie Burkhart". 100 Most Influential People 2025. TIME.
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