House speaker: Senate-bound abortion restrictions are about more than safety

CHEYENNE—As the Wyoming House of Representatives passed two bills this week to further restrict abortion here, its top leader acknowledged the effort was aimed at ending the practice, rather than simply making it safer.

One bill would regulate facilities that provide in-clinic abortions, while the second piece of legislation would require a patient undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before taking abortion medication. 

Wyoming’s near-total ban on abortion and a prohibition against abortion medications violated the state’s constitution, District Court Judge Melissa Owens concluded in November. The state is appealing the ruling to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Until the state’s high court weighs in, Republican lawmakers have said abortion regulations, such as House Bill 42, “Regulation of surgical abortions” and House Bill 64, “Chemical abortions-ultrasound requirement” are needed to keep patients safe. 

The messaging around safety shifted this week when Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, a Hulett Republican and main sponsor of House Bill 64, made an admission Tuesday on the floor. 

“Bang, you got me,” Neiman said. “I want the mother to be able to have time to think about this,” referring to the added step of a transvaginal ultrasound before taking abortion medication. 

Neiman reiterated that his bill was about preventing abortions while it was on second reading Wednesday. 

“Yep, you got me,” he said. “I do, I absolutely believe life is precious. That we should do everything that we possibly can to protect it. ” 

Democratic lawmakers and a handful of Republicans pushed back. 

“I think we should just be honest here,”  Rep. Karlee Provenza, a Laramie Democrat, said on the floor Tuesday.

“If we want to ban abortion, which I think is, you know, the intent,” she said, then, “bring a constitutional amendment, send it to the voters.”

It’s unclear whether such an effort would be successful — even in a deeply red state such as Wyoming. Polling released in November by the University of Wyoming found that residents’ views on abortion varied, with only 10% wanting to ban the practice entirely and another 31% supportive of a ban with exceptions for rape, incest or when a woman’s life is in danger.

Ultimately, House Bill 64 passed 48-13 with one excused. House Bill 42 passed 52-8 with two excused.  

A third abortion-related bill — House Bill 159, “Protecting water from chemical abortion waste” — passed out of committee earlier in the week and was set to be debated in the House at publication time. 

Clinic regulations

House Bill 42 requires Wyoming clinics that perform abortions to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers — which are health care facilities not part of a hospital that perform surgeries.  

Casper’s Wellspring Health Access is the one facility in Wyoming to perform in-clinic abortions. The clinic is also among the plaintiffs who sued the state over its abortion bans. 

The bill’s main sponsor, Worland Republican Rep. Martha Lawley, previously told WyoFile such regulations are needed so long as abortion is legal in Wyoming. 

Lawley brought a similar bill last year, and it passed both chambers. Gov. Mark Gordon, however, vetoed the bill in an effort to “keep our current court case on track for a speedy resolution,” he wrote in his veto letter, a reference to the case then before Judge Owens. 

The bill would enact several regulations. It would require, for example, all of the clinic’s physicians to have admitting privileges at a hospital no further than 10 miles away. 

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, a Lander Republican, brought an amendment to change that requirement to simply the closest hospital. That’s what state law currently requires of ambulatory surgical centers, he said. 

“I think we just need to be consistent,” Larsen said. 

Lawley said the amendment went against the intent of the bill, which is “continuity of care.” 

The amendment failed, as did one from Jackson Democrat Rep. Mike Yin. 

The latter would have added two other procedures to the bill — a hysteroscopy and a loop electrosurgical excision. 

“I want to make sure that if we are … keeping women safe in situations where the uterine lining is damaged, that again, they are all within a facility that they could have immediate, imminent care,” Yin said. 

Transvaginal ultrasounds 

House Bill 64 would require a patient to get a transvaginal ultrasound no more than 48 hours before taking abortion medication. 

Violators would be charged with a felony, as well as a maximum of five years in prison, up to a $20,000 fine, or both. 

The House approved two amendments to the bill, both of which were brought by Neiman. 

Both changed the requirements of the ultrasound provider. The first changed a requirement to provide the age and weight of the embryo or fetus, to the age, length and head diameter. The second would require them to give the patient an opportunity to “view the fetal heart motion.”

“I do believe this is a piece of legislation of compassion,” Neiman said, before adding.

Yin offered another perspective. 

“When we think of an ultrasound, we think of that ultrasound wand, you put it over the belly, put some gel on the belly, non-invasive. And that’s not a big deal,” Yin said. 

But what the bill requires is not that, Yin said. 

Instead, the bill calls for “sticking a wand inside of a person to do an ultrasound,” Yin said. 

“If the government told me that I had to have something stuck inside me to do something I legally can do right now in the state of Wyoming, I would probably give the government a lot of words and a lot of gestures, because the government shouldn’t be doing that,” he said. 

Elissa Campbell, a Casper Republican, brought an unsuccessful amendment that would have required the ultrasound to be offered but would have given patients the option to decline. 

“Show me the evidence that mandating transvaginal ultrasounds falls within the realm of public safety and welfare,” Campbell said. 

The legislation now heads to the Senate for deliberation.

The post House speaker: Senate-bound abortion restrictions are about more than safety appeared first on WyoFile .