Two bills that would add conditions to Wyomingites’ access to procedural and medication abortions passed the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Jan. 24.
One would cause the closure of Wyoming’s only clinic that provides procedural abortions. The other would require pregnant people to “catch” their fetal tissue following a medication abortion and return the tissue to their physician for disposal.
HB 42 – Regulation of surgical abortions
HB 42 would make Wellspring Health Access in Casper undergo significant renovations to its doorways and halls so that patients who need emergency care could be taken to a nearby hospital.
It would also mandate Wellspring’s providers get admitting privileges for their patients in a hospital no more than 10 miles away.
Those who support the bill say it’s about keeping women safe while abortion remains legal in Wyoming after a Teton County district judge struck down two of the state’s abortion laws in November.
“[This bill] provides for basic common sense regulations for surgical abortions to protect the health and safety of women who choose to get a surgical abortion,” testified Rep. Marth Lawley (R-Worland), the bill sponsor, to the House Labor Committee on Jan. 22. “There can be botched abortions, and then there’s a need for a higher level of care for that patient.”
Critics of the measure said that procedural abortions are safe, with a complication rate of less than 2%. Although providers sometimes refer to procedural abortions as “surgery,” they’re generally considered to be minimally invasive and often don’t require the use of an anesthetic.
A similar version of HB 42 was vetoed last year by Gov. Mark Gordon, who said he worried the bill would undermine the expediency of rulings by the Teton County judge on existing abortion laws. At the time, it was combined with another abortion bill recently revived during the current legislative session, the ultrasounds requirement [HB 64].
“[The bill reintroduced this session] would force us to shutter the building, and that’s quite devastating,” Wellspring founder Julie Burkhart said in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio. “I don’t mean from a business perspective, I mean from a public service perspective. All of the people that we see from around the state would have to go elsewhere.”
Like last session, Burkhart told WPR she believes HB 42 is “a ploy” used by anti-abortion lawmakers under the guise of “protecting women” that would interfere with or shutter Wellspring. The law would go into effect immediately upon Gordon’s signature.
“Women are not children,” she said. “Women do not need to be coddled. We do not need people making decisions for us. If somebody needs help, the way that you can help protect that person is by ensuring that they have good [medical] options, and that they are able to get to a healthcare provider in a timely manner in order to access the best options for them. That’s good in terms of public health in general, not specifically abortion. So I find language like that to be disingenuous.”
Burkhart said it was “within the realm of possibility” that attorneys representing Wellspring would file a lawsuit against HB 42 if it passes the Senate and is signed by the governor.
Some who testified on the bill before the House Labor Committee said they likewise opposed it, but not because it would further restrict abortion access.
“While I understand the intent of the bill is to make it more difficult to obtain an abortion, this bill is still sanctifying it,” said Susan Long, a resident of Laramie County who described herself as pro-life.
Representatives on the committee didn’t ask questions of members of the public who testified. HB 42 is expected to be voted on by the House Committee of the Whole on Jan. 27 to finish out its first reading. If it passes three readings there, it will move to the Senate next.
HB 159 – Protecting water from chemical abortion waste
The House Labor Committee on Jan. 24 also passed a bill that would require any doctor who prescribes abortion pills in Wyoming to be responsible for disposing of the fetal tissue.
HB 159, sponsored by Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette), would force Wyomingities who are taking pills like mifepristone at home to collect and return any fetal tissue in catch kits marked “biohazard,” rather than flush the tissue down the toilet.
The bill’s backers say it’s meant to protect local water systems from “contamination” by abortion drugs.
“Once a woman takes an abortion pill, the remaining parts of the destroyed fetus will get flushed down the toilets, poisoning the drinking water and our environment,” said Lucy Holt, a student at the University of Wyoming and president of that college’s chapter of the national conservative group Students for Life. “That includes chemically tainted blood, placenta, tissue, human remains. Nothing good.”
The bill mirrors model legislation written by Students for Life for use by elected officials in state legislatures across the country.
But an environmental assessment conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not find any evidence that mifepristone was significantly contaminating waterways more than any other pharmaceutical drug.
“Wyomingites do not want the state to spend still more money on litigation defending a law that limits their freedom to make private healthcare decisions, a law that’s unconstitutional, it’s not feasible and it is in fact cruel,” said Chelsea’s Fund Executive Director Christine Lichtenfels to the House committee. Chelsea’s Fund is an organization that supports abortion access.
Sen. Tim Salazar (R-Riverton) told POLITICO in November he planned to introduce Students for Life’s contamination bill in the current session, although as of Jan. 27 a Senate version of HB 159 has yet to materialize.
Medication and procedural 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.