New Trigger Bill Would Ban Abortion If Wyoming’s Earlier Ban Rejected In Court

Wyoming pro-life advocates are already planning a new abortion ban in the state if the Wyoming Supreme Court strikes down a 2023 ban the Legislature passed. 

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee passed Senate File 125 on Monday, a bill that declares abortion is not health care under Wyoming law.

The bill is aimed at banning abortion in Wyoming if the state’s current abortion ban is struck down in court. The Wyoming Supreme Court is deliberating the constitutionality of that 2023 law.

SF 125 would go into effect after the court renders a decision on this case or March 12, 2026, whichever comes sooner.

The committee passed SF 125 on a 7-1 vote with state Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, the only member voting against it.

Cheyenne attorney Drake Hill, a representative of the conservative advocacy group Honor Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily he believes the bill would make abortion illegal in most circumstances in Wyoming if the state Supreme Court throws out the current law. The only exceptions built into the bill are for pregnancies caused by rape or incest and abortions required to save the life of the mother.

Hill said he was involved in discussions with various pro-life groups that helped draft the legislation with Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, and she said he helped draft some of the bill. Typically a more behind-the-scenes player in Wyoming politics, Hill was one of the early leaders in Honor Wyoming, a group that ranks lawmakers based on their voting records.

“There needed to be legal clarity brought to the topic and I was asked to bring my legal perspective,” Hill told Cowboy State Daily.

Hill is the husband of former Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill, who was at Monday’s committee meeting. Cindy Hill got into a protracted battle with the Legislature when it attempted to strip her of most of her duties as superintendent.

She eventually won a court case restoring her powers in 2014, but lost her bid for governor that same year.

Big Changes Made

On Monday, a significant amendment was added to the bill that was presented by the bill’s sponsor, Steinmetz. 

“We’re very grateful to Senator Steinmetz for offering this amendment and carrying the process forward,” Hill said.

The three-page amendment specifically clarifies that an unborn fetus is protected under law, the definition of words like “pregnant” and “abortion,” and that abortions are not health care.

That abortions are considered “health care” under the Wyoming Constitution is the main legal challenge to the current ban.

Hill said the bill doesn’t tell the courts what to do but rather gives it definitions to work with.

“Which the courts want, which is the province of the Legislature to do,” he said. “We have a very broken system if the Legislature doesn’t provide definitions.”

A 2023 bill attempting to ban abortion in Wyoming already tried to define abortion as health care, which was struck down at the district court level.

Yin said he doesn’t believe the amendment did anything to the bill, which he also sees as meaningless. Christine Lichtenfels, executive director at Chelsea’s Fund and a party in the ongoing lawsuit, agrees.

“It looks like more cluttering and reiteration of the Legislature’s effort to infringe on the judicial branch’s role of interpreting the Constitution,” she said. “I understand they want to stop living, breathing Wyoming women from having decision-making authority over their own bodies, but the Legislature can’t erase a constitutional right by redefining constitutional terms. That’s why we have separation of powers.”

Hill had criticized earlier changes made to the bill from its original version when the committee first considered the legislation Friday, saying it relied on definitions that were already determined unconstitutional and was a result of a “thousand chefs in the kitchen.” He suggested and wrote definitions for the bill on Friday, which Steinmetz took up through her own amendment on Monday.

“I’m glad that we were such a critical component in bringing out the issues and encouraging a result to where we got today,” Hill said. 

Court Time

In 2023, the Legislature passed two abortion bans, the Life is a Human Right Act and a chemical abortion ban. Had they been allowed to become law, they would have banned nearly all abortions in Wyoming but left exceptions for the life and health of the mother, and for rape and incest.

The Life Act was the Legislature’s attempt to bolster an earlier 2022 trigger ban that went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Melissa Owens blocked both versions from enforcement in back-to-back court cases and last fall overturned both bans as unconstitutional, which is now being considered in the state Supreme Court on appeal. 

Steinmetz said the bill was written in a trigger-fashion out of concern it could delay the current lawsuit by another two to four years if considered by the court immediately.

Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell, attempted to bring an amendment to the bill to make it go into effect immediately, which Hill said he supported and Yin also voted for. The amendment was rejected on a 4-4 vote.

Despite voting for the bill, Rep. Ken Clouston, R-Gillette, voted against the amendment, expressing concern that it could invalidate the ongoing court case. When the 2023 law was passed, it caused an injunction and Owens to completely start the lawsuit over in consideration of the new legislation.

Hill said estimates based on foot traffic into the facility show there are about 15 surgical abortions performed a week at the Wellspring Health Access Clinic in Casper.

“Our concern is that every day, every week that goes by … we’re losing 15 more children, and then in a half year that’s 350,” Hill said. “It’s just a tragedy. That’s my concern. That’s why we wanted immediate effectiveness.”

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.