A bill to put a constitutional amendment related to abortion on the ballot in Wyoming failed introduction Thursday in the Senate, dealing a setback to abortion opponents who sought a popular vote after the state’s high court recently tossed two abortion bans.
Senate Joint Resolution 7, “Right of health care access-separation of powers,” would have asked voters to amend the Wyoming Constitution to empower the Legislature to define health care “for purposes of the right of health care access and to clarify when and how the legislature may impose restrictions on the right of health care access.”
It did not muster the high threshold of votes required during a budget session, and failed by a single vote, 20-11.
The vote follows January’s Wyoming Supreme Court decision that struck down two abortion bans as unconstitutional. State lawmakers passed the bans.
In a 4-1 decision that hinged on constitutional language, the court determined the bans conflict with a 2012 amendment to the Wyoming Constitution that protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions.
Plaintiffs argued that abortion is enshrined in the “right of health care access” in Article 1, Section 38, which states that “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.” Wyoming’s attorneys countered that abortion is not health care.
Following that bombshell decision, which resonated across the country and made national news, anti-abortion activists decried it and called for legislative action.
The voters of Wyoming should settle the matter once and for all, Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement at the time, which he reiterated during his State of the State Address on Monday.
“The question of abortion deserves careful deliberation,” Gordon said in his address. “I urge the Legislature to take up this issue earnestly and put forward a genuine solution to the voters of Wyoming that provides a clear, irrefutable, durable and morally sound resolution to this fraught issue.”
He called on the Legislature to pass such an amendment during the session and deliver it to his desk.
A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to appear on the ballot in the following general election.
‘Missed the mark’
Senate Joint Resolution 7 was sponsored by Riverton Republican Sen. Tim Salazar and co-sponsored by 20 far-right and Freedom Caucus-aligned lawmakers, including members who attended a “prayer for life” in front of the Wyoming Supreme Court on Monday just before the session opened.
When Salazar presented the measure to the Senate chamber on Thursday afternoon, he framed it as a way to tackle “one of the most important issues of our day.
“As you know, I will work with anyone to resolve this terribly important issue,” he said.
Sen. Cale Case, a Lander Republican, cast one of the no votes. Authorizing the Legislature to make such a sweeping definition gives the body far too much power, he said, and runs counter to Wyoming values.
“The people of Wyoming would never go for it,” Case said. “It just misses the mark.”
On top of that, Case believes that health care is a private issue that competent adults have the right to make on their own, he said. He is also in favor of the separation of powers.
For more legislative coverage, click here.