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CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming’s governor on Friday vetoed a bill that would create significant barriers to abortion and provide gender-affirming care to minors if it remains legal in the state. He signed a bill banning it.
The abortion bill, rejected by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon, would require facilities offering abortions to be licensed as outpatient surgery centers, increasing costs and operational burdens.
Women had to undergo an ultrasound at least 48 hours before surgical or medical abortion to determine the gestational age, location, and likelihood of pregnancy of the fetus.
Abortion is legal in Wyoming pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging a new law banning abortion. The bill targeted Wellspring Health Access, the only full-service abortion clinic in the state. The Casper facility was set to open in 2023, but was nearly a year behind schedule after an arson attack by a woman who opposed abortion caused severe burns.
In announcing his veto, Gordon said the measure would ensure clinics are “appropriately regulated.” But he said the amendments added by lawmakers made it more susceptible to legal challenges.
“Wyoming is closer than ever to a decision on the constitutionality of abortion,” Gordon said in a statement, adding that the bill “could further delay resolution of this critical issue for unborn children.” Ta.
Most abortions at Wellspring are performed with pills, but the clinic could also perform surgical abortions, according to clinic officials who opposed the bill.
The measure would require abortions at any clinic to be performed only by a licensed physician with admission privileges to a hospital within 10 miles.
As a result, while renovating Wellspring to meet standards for an outpatient surgery facility, the clinic would have incurred significant new costs to obtain “medically unnecessary” admitting privileges for its doctors. Founder Julie Burkhardt said in an emailed statement. Women also faced additional travel and vacation costs to meet ultrasound requirements, Burkhardt added.
She said the bill aims to close clinics, harming people who need abortion services.
“Outlawing abortion will never be a way to make this medical care obsolete,” she said.
Last year, the Wyoming Legislature passed and Gordon signed a bill restricting abortion in the state, including the nation’s first explicit ban on abortion pills. Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in Jackson put the law on hold while considering a lawsuit against it by Wellspring and others.
At a hearing in December, Owens said she intended to issue a judgment rather than take the case to trial. But on Monday, she sent all major questions in the case to the state Supreme Court for consideration instead.
Owens expresses sympathy for abortion rights supporters in Wyoming. She said their case could prevail, for example, by arguing that abortion is allowed under a 2012 state constitutional amendment that says competent adults have the right to make their own health care decisions. Said it was expensive.
Wyoming lawyers countered that the amendment, approved in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, was not intended to apply to abortions.
Wyoming’s latest abortion bill faced higher hurdles just to be considered in this year’s legislative session, which ended March 8. During the four-week session, a two-thirds majority was required to introduce non-budget bills.
“Those of us who support legislation like this, we know that life goes beyond this chamber,” Sen. Dan Dockstadder, a Republican from Afton, said in a debate before the bill passed the Senate on a 24-6 vote. “I know deep down that it has meaning,” he said. March 1st.
The bill earlier passed the state House of Representatives on a 53-9 vote.
While Gordon vetoes the abortion bill, he signed a bill that would make Wyoming the latest state to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, saying he supports the bill’s protections for minors. But he added that he believed such a bill would be tantamount to the government “intruding into a family’s personal affairs.”
At least 24 states have adopted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for minors, and most of those states have been sued. A federal judge ruled that Arkansas’ ban was unconstitutional. In Idaho and Montana, judges have issued orders temporarily blocking bans from being enforced.
The Wyoming State Legislature also passed a bill this session to enforce parental rights in education. Gordon said Congress needs to “sort out its intentions” when it comes to parental rights.
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