Wyoming

When the first French settlers arrived in the region that is now Wyoming in the late 1700s, the land had been inhabited by Native American tribes for centuries. With the start of the Oregon Trail, settlers moved into the region, and it was admitted to the Union in 1890. It now has a population of 532,668 (2008 estimate), and 49.3 percent of the current population are female, one of the lowest in the United States, compared to 50.7 of the nation as a whole.

The overall population of the state is growing; the birth rate in Wyoming, at 14.9, is significantly higher than the national average, as is the fertility rate of 2.24 children per women (compared to the national average of 2.1). There are 2.48 people per household, lower than 2.59 the national average. In 2006, 33 percent of births in Wyoming were to unmarried mothers, and the teen birth rate was [Page 1286]47.3 per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Being a heavily rural society, many people live near their extended family. Slightly more than a quarter of the population are of German ancestry, and over half of the population is Protestant, with 21 percent of people professing no religion. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints make up 11 percent of the people in Wyoming. Although they did profess polygamy in the 19th century, this is no longer the case. The divorce rate in 2004 was 5.2 per 1,000 population, and the marriage rate was 9.1 per 1,000.

The median household income of Wyoming is only slightly more than the national average. In 2008, 64 percent of women in Wyoming were in the civilian labor force. There are excellent maternity and midwifery services throughout the state, especially in Cheyenne, the state capital. There is much lower access to assisted reproductive technology than in most other states, and Wyoming also has one of the lowest abortion rates in the United States.

The abortion rate in 2005 in Wyoming was 0.7 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, a decline of 28 percent since 2000, when it was 1 per 1,000. One percent of pregnancies in 2005 ended with induced abortions. The state had two abortion providers; 96 percent of Wyoming counties had no abortion provider, and 96 percent of Wyoming women lived in these counties. The state requires parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion, and public funding is available only in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. Wyoming has a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) waiver that allows it to cover family planning services under Medicaid.

In terms of the state's history, one of the leading U.S. suffragists and campaigners for women's rights, Esther Hobart McQuigg (1814–1902), spent much of her life in Wyoming, where she brought up her stepson and two of her own sons. The U.S. psychologist and educator, June Etta Downey (18751932), was born in Laramie, Wyoming.

In 1924 when William Ross, the governor of Wyoming, died from medical complications, the Democratic Party nominated his widow, Nellie Tayloe Ross, to run as governor. She served from 1925 to 1927 as the first female state governor in U.S. history, and to date the only woman to have been governor of Wyoming. She also managed to bring up three sons, the youngest of whom was 12 when she became governor; another son had died in infancy.

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