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Gov. Mark Gordon took action on two high-profile bills on March 14.

He vetoed one that would’ve clarified in state statute that abortion is not healthcare. He let another become law without signing it that codifies two genders.

Vetoed: Defining health care and protecting the people’s welfare

SF 125 reached Gordon’s desk after Wyoming’s two near-total abortion bans were overturned by Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in November 2024. Owens found that the state Constitution protects Wyomingites’ freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. The state is appealing her ruling to the state Supreme Court.

In his veto letter, Gordon wrote that his “understanding is that the definition of health care is an issue that is being argued in the current litigation that is already before the Wyoming Supreme Court.”

He continued, “I fear passage of [SF 125] into law will only perpetuate redundant legal challenges, add to the delay Wyoming has already witnessed in litigating the state’s ability to regulate abortion, and introduce further complexity into an already robust docket on abortion.”

The veto came after Gordon signed HB 42, a bill mandating all clinics in the state that provide procedural abortions become licensed as ambulatory surgical centers, and vetoed HB 64, a bill that requires pregnant women to receive a transvaginal ultrasound 48 hours before being given abortion medication.

Gordon’s veto of HB 64 was overridden by the Legislature and is now law.

Wyoming’s only clinic that provided procedural abortions, Wellspring Health Access, has sued the state in Teton County District Court to stop HB 42 and HB 64 from becoming law. The state submitted motions to return the case to Natrona County where it was originally filed.

Law without signature: ‘What is a Woman Act’

The governor permitted HB 32, the “What is a Woman Act,” to pass into law without his signature.

HB 32 establishes legal definitions for the terms “biological sex,” “man” and “woman,” and could ban transgender people from accessing the bathrooms, locker rooms and other public spaces of their choice, including rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters.

The policy’s detractors didn’t mince words about the potential fallout from its passage into the fabled green books of Wyoming’s laws.

“Without an enforcement mechanism, you open up everything to being an enforcement mechanism, and then the courts will decide whether it’s legitimate or not,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) on the House floor during debate over the bill. “Are you going to force rape victims to show their genitals to enter a domestic violence shelter, potentially when their husbands were the ones who raped them?”

The bill’s supporters said it was necessary to keep what they call “biological men” out of women’s spaces for safety and privacy reasons. But data show that trans people using restrooms that best fit their authentic gender identity does not commonly result in harm to cisgender people.

What’s less clear is how the law will impact intersex people. Those who are intersex have reproductive or sexual features that don’t fit into solely male or female sex classifications. Researchers estimate that up to 1.7% of people are born with intersex traits. That would be about 9,806 Wyomingites.

In the definition of terms, the measure appears to exclude intersex individuals, stating that those who would normally produce eggs or sperm as the case may be, “but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption,” would not be subject to the law.

Gordon wrote in a letter that while he supported the bill’s goals overall, “I suspect this Act was not drafted with keen legal objectives in mind as much as it was to scratch a welcome national political itch.”

He argued that the definitions the measure provides are confusing and difficult to administer by the state.

And he went further than that, writing about HB 32 that “a well-worn aphorism states, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s certainly worth overdoing.’ Another comes to mind, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.’ [HB 32] does both.”

Even still, the law went into effect immediately upon Gordon’s tacit approval.

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.