Pregnant Wyomingites will now be required to have a transvaginal ultrasound 48 hours before receiving abortion medication.
That’s after the Wyoming Senate joined the House in reversing Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto of HB 64 on March 5. It’s one of many bills received for introduction to the state Legislature during the ongoing general session that look to restrict, regulate or eliminate access to procedural or medication abortions in the state.
Gordon’s veto of HB 64 was reversed with a 45 to 16 vote in the House. In the Senate, the vote was 22 to 9. Both chambers needed a two-thirds majority.
Transvaginal ultrasounds are done by inserting a wand-like device into a woman’s vagina to check for a fetal heartbeat. Abdominal ultrasounds, by contrast, are done on the outside of the body and are considered noninvasive.
Some lawmakers said the bill isn’t intended to protect women, as its supporters have suggested, but is meant to make abortion inaccessible while it’s legal in Wyoming.
In his veto letter, Gordon said the legislation could retraumatize women who are the victims of childhood sexual abuse, rape or incest. Other detractors have said the policy is medically unnecessary.
HB 64 is one of two measures that were recently challenged in Natrona County District Court by attorneys representing Wellspring Health Access, the only clinic of its kind that provides both procedural and medication abortions in Wyoming. Other plaintiffs in the civil suit include Chelsea’s Fund, an abortion advocacy nonprofit, and two maternal health physicians, Giovannina Anthony and Rene Hinkle.
“[HB 64], basically, is going to ban telemedicine or medication abortion, which is something that an increasing number of our patients are choosing to utilize in Wyoming,” said Katie Knutter, Wellspring’s executive director, at a recent virtual press conference.
The other bill Gordon signed last week, HB 42, mandates that Wellspring acquire ambulatory surgical center licensure and fines the clinic on a daily basis if it doesn’t comply. It will likely force the closure of Wellspring while it undergoes significant renovations to bring it up to code. The clinic has experienced arson and weekly protests by anti-abortion activists since it opened in 2022.
Both HB 42 and HB 64 were fused together into one single bill that Gordon vetoed in the last legislative session in March of 2024. At the time, Gordon said that pending court cases needed to resolve before the state could implement more abortion restrictions.
As the legal challenge against HB 64 and HB 42 begins, the state’s two near-total abortion bans are facing legal scrutiny of their own from the Wyoming Supreme Court, after being struck down by a Teton County District judge last year.
That judge, Melissa Owens, said the near-total bans violated the state Constitution, which guarantees Wyomingites the right to make their own healthcare decisions.
“We don’t even wait for the [Supreme] court decision to come out, we keep piling on restrictions,” said Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander) during the Senate’s debate on the override on March 5. “That’s not right.”
Case, a longtime legislator, was one of the original sponsors of the healthcare amendment to the state Constitution. He said he was deeply concerned about women seeking abortion medication following rape or incest.
“How does that make sense, to traumatize these women who are at a terrible point in their lives and are victims, to victimize them?” he said. “We’re not God.”
Both HB 64 and HB 42 go into effect immediately.
Procedural and medication abortions remain legal in Wyoming.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
