Gov. Mark Gordon (R-WY) signed a fetal heartbeat abortion ban into law on Monday, but, in doing so, raised his reservations about the legislation providing zero exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.
The law provides an exception for pregnancies that may risk the mother’s life or health, which the anti-abortion governor supports. However, he disagrees with the law’s language that excludes the other two common exceptions for abortions.
“Where the act does not align to my pro-life stance is in the concern for specific vulnerable populations,” he wrote in a letter to Wyoming House Speaker Chip Neiman (R). “While the act does include the exception in cases that ‘preserve the woman from an imminent peril that substantially endangers her life or health,’ it does not address rape or incest. This is in my mind an unfortunate flaw.”
The bill, called the Human Heartbeat Act, bars abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which usually comes at about the six-week mark in pregnancies.
Wyoming is the fifth state — following Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina — to enact an abortion ban in the early weeks of a woman’s first trimester. North Carolina and Nebraska ban abortions at about 12 weeks of gestation.
The governor’s signing of the bill comes two months after the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down the state’s laws that banned abortion throughout all stages of pregnancy.
Gordon noted the predicament the state now finds itself in after enacting the new bill.
“Despite the upright, moral intentions behind [House Enrolled Act] 29, I believe this Act very likely puts us back in the all too familiar and unfortunate territory of pro-life litigation. It does not offer the durable solution I had hoped for, and it does not put the issue before the people of Wyoming from whom, according to Article 1 of our Wyoming Constitution, all governmental power derives,” the governor wrote.
“Those efforts were shot down in favor of this sole remaining and flawed Act,” he said. “Nonetheless, I am signing the Human Heartbeat Act, Enrolled Act 29, into law with both support and concern. Life is sacred.”
Gordon went on to explain that a constitutional amendment or a narrowly crafted legislative solution is needed to address the Wyoming Supreme Court’s abortion-rights interpretation of the state constitution.
“Whether we agree with that interpretation or not, it is the current constitutional framework governing abortion policy in Wyoming,” he continued. “We cannot ignore or disregard the legal complexity of abortion policy in Wyoming. The State must protect unborn life while acting carefully within the constraints of the Wyoming Constitution and court decisions.”
While he supports an unborn child’s right to life, Gordon called the new law a “likely fragile legal effort” that won’t lead to “lasting, durable” abortion policy.
“Rather than finding a remedy that saves the unborn, I fear we have only added another chapter to the sad saga of repeatedly trying to force a specific solution,” he concluded in the letter.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, many Republican states rushed to pass legislation that would enforce bans on abortion procedures. About 13 states currently have near-total abortion bans applying to all stages of pregnancy with limited exceptions.
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Following the end of Roe, the Wyoming legislature tried to push through several abortion-related laws until it was met with legal challenges. One such law that the Wyoming Supreme Court overturned in January sought to ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.
One of the plaintiffs in the state Supreme Court case, Wellspring Health Access, immediately signaled its intent to challenge the Human Heartbeat Act in court.
