CHEYENNE—Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill late Monday that would have required patients seeking abortion medications to first undergo a transvaginal ultrasound and a 48-hour waiting period.
While maintaining his “pro-life stance,” Gordon said he objected to the bill’s invasive nature and its lack of exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
“Every year we continue to lose unborn babies in Wyoming,” Gordon wrote in his veto letter. “Making it easier for mothers to have babies in Wyoming and supporting them afterward is a far better course. Mandating this intimate, personally invasive, and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far.”
Abortion remains legal in Wyoming as its two bans are held up in court, awaiting a Wyoming Supreme Court decision after a Teton County District Court judge ruled the 2023 laws unconstitutional in November.
In the meantime, another legal battle has begun.
Hours after Gordon signed a bill Thursday to enact several regulations on clinics that perform abortions, the state’s one facility to do so — Casper’s Wellspring Health Access — challenged the law in court. Wellspring preemptively aimed part of that complaint at the ultrasound regulation.
“In the absence of access to essential health care in Wyoming, all women in the state who seek an abortion or health care related to abortion services will face a governmentally mandated intrusion into their bodies and health care — the requirement of an ultrasound (likely transvaginal) and at least a 48 hour delay before they can receive the health care they and their physician deem appropriate,” the complaint states.
Gordon, however, made clear in his veto letter that his decision did not involve the most recent legal challenge.
“For the record, the Plaintiff’s premature filing against this law is a foolish strategy and has not influenced my decision over my disposition of this Act,” Gordon wrote.
Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, was the ultrasound bill’s main sponsor. The legislation was needed to keep patients safe while abortion remains legal, Neiman said, while also pointing to a desire to prevent abortion.
“I do, I absolutely believe life is precious. That we should do everything that we possibly can to protect it,” Neiman said on the House floor.
Invasive concerns
But what concerned the governor in particular was the bill’s lack of accounting “for the specific populations who may be more vulnerable to psychological effects related to the procedure,” such as survivors of childhood sexual abuse, “or victims whose pregnancy is caused by rape or incest, or a woman and her family who is forced to choose her health over that of the unborn.”
Gordon also raised concerns that the prospect of such an ultrasound and the 48-hour waiting period would discourage victims of rape or incest from seeking help.
“We should encourage women who have been sexually assaulted to report rape, not fear recrimination from the law,” Gordon said.
Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate passed the bill with more than two-thirds support — the amount needed to override a gubernatorial veto. They have three days to act before the session is set to end.
This is a breaking news story and it may be updated.
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