If Wyoming Freedom Caucus thought it could win, abortion ban would be on the ballot

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus probably won’t ever give up its fight to force the public and courts to accept a ban on abortion in this state. 

But the good news is that after the current budget session is over, voters may be so sick of the far-right’s inept job of governing that Freedom Caucus leaders may at least temporarily abandon some of their most audaciously repressive goals in favor of simply trying to stick around.

I am heartened by events like a reproductive freedom rally in front of the Capitol Friday. About 100 hardy souls gathered in freezing weather to listen to pro-choice speakers discuss how the Wyoming Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn two abortion bans last month has changed the state’s conversation and strengthened their resolve to keep fighting.

Part of my faith that the end of the Freedom Caucus’ reign of terror over Wyoming politics is within sight is the fact that on core philosophical issues like abortion, its members are not moving the needle. Its leaders took a lot of victory laps after passing bans on both procedural and medication abortions in 2023, which mistakenly made them confident they could dismantle state government brick by brick for the foreseeable future.

But then the Wyoming Supreme Court genuinely shocked the Freedom Caucus with its 4-1 rejection of the bans, despite prolific warnings from opponents — and even fellow Republicans — about the unconstitutionality of both new laws. Its chairman emeritus, Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, co-chair of the powerful Joint Appropriations Committee, and other caucus members discussed reducing the Supreme Court from five to three members and giving the Senate power to confirm the governor’s appointments of justices.

The sour grapes approach didn’t gain traction, but neither did Gov. Mark Gordon’s call on the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment so the issue could be decided by the voters. That would be welcomed by pro-choice Wyomingites.

Despite the Freedom Caucus’ blustery promise that House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, would join forces to draft such a bill with Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, nothing ever came of it.

Instead of the up-or-down vote on abortion Gordon wanted, Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 7, “Right of health care access-separation of powers.” It would’ve given lawmakers the power to effectively amend the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2012, when they enshrined the right of competent adults to make their own health care decisions.

Senate Joint Resolution 7 was a blatant power grab by the Legislature to decide what constitutes health care, not the courts. Passage would have allowed legislators to declare that abortion is not health care. 

If Wyoming’s anti-abortion lawmakers were confident they had public support, there would have been enough arm-twisting to make sure the proposed amendment was on November’s general election ballot. But the joint resolution failed by one vote to get the two-thirds majority needed for Senate consideration.

That left two anti-abortion bills alive, both introduced in the lower chamber. House Bill 117, “Stop harm-empower women with informed notices,” has the most disingenuous bill title of the session. It’s hardly empowering women to make them wait 24 hours before obtaining an abortion and subject them to a litany of histrionic restrictions before the procedure.

The underlying need for such measures, according to the bill, is that supposedly the vast majority of women who obtain abortions have been coerced and are unable to provide informed consent.

Britt Boril of Casper, executive director of WyoUnited, a reproductive freedom group, said HB 117 is based on faulty studies and would require “extra informed consent in order to have, above and beyond, what’s required for any other medical procedure.”

Boril said the Neiman-sponsored House Bill 126, “Human heartbeat act,” an oft-introduced bill that has never become law in Wyoming, is basically a six-week abortion ban passed by other states and tied up in courts.

Rhythmic electrical pulses that can be found by invasive transvaginal ultrasounds at six weeks have been interpreted as a heartbeat. But at that stage, many women do not even know they’re pregnant.

“This is unconstitutional because it places unreasonable restraints on our ability to access care,” Boril said. “When you have an abortion ban in place, it scares abortion providers out of the state who become so fearful of repercussions that they could face, they won’t provide life-saving care.”

Last year, lawmakers passed two bills to restrict abortions. One signed by Gordon would require clinics offering procedural abortions to be operated as ambulatory surgical centers, subject to more stringent rules, likely putting them out of business because remodeling costs would be prohibitive. 

The other bill, requiring transvaginal ultrasounds and a 48-hour waiting period before a medication abortion, was vetoed by Gordon but overridden by wide margins in both chambers. Both laws were temporarily blocked last April by a Laramie County District Court judge.

What I liked most about the rally is that speaker after speaker expressed no hesitation to attack every abortion restriction by filing a lawsuit. That includes HB 117, which already has passed the House, 52-9, and HB 126, which was approved by the committee of the whole on a 51-10 vote.

If these measures get through the Senate, Wyomingites need to ask Gordon to veto them. But if that fails, the courts have a good track record of stopping them in their tracks.

“We know that whatever laws they pass this session, they are unconstitutional, and we will be going to court,” said Katie Knutter, executive director of Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the only Wyoming clinic that provides procedural and medication abortions.

“And the state will lose, because we have a constitutional right in Wyoming to make our own health care decisions,” she added.

But Knutter said something else that’s true, and it’s what everyone in the pro-choice movement must remember: “Without our clinics and the people to fight to keep those clinics open, that right means nothing.”