Ultrasound now needed for pill abortions in Wyoming after lawmakers override veto
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Women planning pill abortions in Wyoming will need to get an ultrasound after lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto of the law.
Wednesday’s 22-9 vote by the state Senate followed a 45-16 vote by the House on Tuesday to override. In vetoing the bill Monday, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon questioned whether it was reasonable and necessary, especially for victims of rape and incest.
Lawmakers cited concerns about women’s well-being Wednesday in voting to override, and they cleared the two-thirds majority requirement.
“He’s very concerned about the psychological effects of this procedure,” Republican Sen. Darin Smith of Cheyenne said of the governor, “but what about the psychological effects of having an abortion, for the rest of your life?”
The new requirement, which takes effect right away, was criticized by abortion rights advocates.
“We are saddened so many legislators lack empathy and respect for women’s decision-making authority, but we stand ready to fight this unconstitutional, unnecessary and unreasonable bill in court,” Christine Lichtenfels, executive director of the Wyoming abortion access advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund, said in a statement.
Wyoming is the first state to explicitly outlaw pill abortions, though that and other abortion bans over the past three years are on hold pending a case before the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Ten other states require abortion providers to perform ultrasounds on women seeking abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
Under Wyoming’s new law, pregnant women planning pill abortions will have to drive potentially long distances to get an ultrasound and have it documented. They would have the opportunity but not be required to view the image of the fetus at least 48 hours before a pill abortion.
Existing state law already requires abortion providers to offer an ultrasound to women getting abortions.
Pregnant woman who do not get an ultrasound will not be penalized under the new law, however. Instead it is medical providers who face up to $9,000 in fines and six months in jail for not arranging it.
But there are few if any active abortion providers left. Last week the state’s only full-service abortion clinic stopped providing any abortion care, surgical or medicinal, after Gordon signed a bill requiring such facilities to be licensed as surgical centers.
Wellspring Health Access in Casper is wary of running afoul of the law while it challenges it and others in court, President Julie Burkhart said.
It was not clear whether Wyoming’s only other clinic providing medication abortions, a family medicine practice in Jackson, continues to do so. There was no response to phone messages left with the clinic seeking comment Tuesday and Wednesday.
Pill abortions remain possible in the state through remote services: Women have access through the Just the Pill telehealth service and online providers such as Abuzz, The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, and Aid Access, according to Chelsea’s Fund.
The Guttmacher Institute found that more than 3 in 5 abortions carried out in the U.S. through the formal health care system in 2023 were medicinal. Wyoming had the biggest portion of abortions via pill that year: 19 in 20.
By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press
