Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon rejected a bill that would impose new restrictions on abortion services in the state Friday, NBC News reported.
Gordon rejected a bill that would have added new rules for abortion services, according to NBC News. The bill would mandate clinics providing surgical abortions to get a special license, which could make them more expensive to run. It also said women must have an ultrasound two days before an abortion to check the fetus’s age and health.
His decision comes at a time when abortion is still legal in Wyoming, as courts review new laws seeking to ban it, NBC News stated. Gordon expressed concerns that changes to the bill could lead to additional legal issues. “The state is closer than ever to a decision on the constitutionality of abortion in Wyoming,” Gordon said in a statement, the outlet reported. “[The bill] had the potential to further delay the resolution of this critical issue for the unborn.”
Wyoming governor vetoes abortion restrictions, signs transgender medical care ban for minors https://t.co/a3OSQEJewL
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 23, 2024
The vetoed bill specifically targeted Wellspring Health Access, the only full-service abortion clinic in Wyoming. Despite being delayed by an arson attack, Wellspring opened in 2023. It offers both pill-based and surgical abortions, NBC News stated. Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has temporarily suspended the laws as she reviews legal challenges brought by Wellspring and additional parties. (RELATED: Trans Activists May Have Found Backdoor To Force Hospitals To Provide Sex-Change Surgeries)
At a hearing in December, Owens planned to make a decision before a potential trial. But by Monday, she decided to send all the big questions about the case to the state Supreme Court for them to look at, the outlet stated. The Senate passed the bill with a 24-6 vote, following its earlier approval in the House by a 53-9 vote.
Simultaneously, Gordon signed into law a separate piece of legislation banning sex-change surgeries for minors, a move that aligns Wyoming with several other states enacting similar restrictions, NBC News added. More than 24 states have placed limits or bans on sex-change surgeries for minors, and many are facing legal fights. A federal court overturned Arkansas’s ban as illegal, and courts have temporarily stopped these bans in Idaho and Montana, according to NBC News.