Wyoming's Republican governor, Mark Gordon, has signed a six-week abortion ban into law, warning of constitutional hurdles as a lawsuit was immediately filed by the same plaintiffs who successfully challenged previous bans. The state's all-Republican supreme court struck down earlier abortion restrictions in January, citing a constitutional guarantee that adults can make their own healthcare decisions.
The new law makes abortion illegal after six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which many women are unaware they are pregnant. Violators face a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The ban is expected to halt services at Wellspring Health Access, the state's only functioning procedural abortion clinic, whose executive director, Katie Knutter, noted that patients already travel an average of 250 miles for care, with a third coming from out of state.
Democratic state representative Mike Yin described the annual cycle of abortion bans as 'an insult to voters and our institution', adding that he sees little difference between this ban and the full ban previously struck down. The bill's main sponsor, Republican House Speaker Chip Neiman, argued that legislators have a moral obligation to pursue anti-abortion measures, saying, 'The only person that gets broke down is the person that doesn't do anything.'
The new challenge has been filed as an amendment to an ongoing suit against prior bans. Kimya Forouzan of the Guttmacher Institute highlighted the use of fetal personhood language in the bill, which ties into national trends linking such provisions to criminal penalties. Other abortion-related bills in the state include a requirement for transvaginal ultrasounds and a 48-hour waiting period, as well as costly clinic retrofitting rules, both currently held up in court.
Republican representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, frustrated with the supreme court's abortion rulings, unsuccessfully attempted to block additional security funding for courts across the state. She argued on the house floor that the court should protect unborn lives. The only way to end the legislative-judicial standoff would be a constitutional amendment, but none has been proposed.
