CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Governor Mark Gordon has vetoed Senate File 125 – Defining Health Care and Protecting the People’s Welfare (also known as Senate Enrolled Act 92 or SEA 92), according to an announcement by his office on Friday, March 14. The legislation sought to legally define abortion as falling outside of the scope of health care as defined in the state constitution.
The text of the legislation reads: “For purposes of interpretation and construction under the Wyoming constitution and all statutes of this state, abortion, as defined in W.S. 35-6-122(a)(i), is not health care.”
In his veto letter, Gordon provides a chronological breakdown of the legal battle over abortion as it has played out over the last few years. He notes that Friday’s veto is in line with his “unwavering commitment to safeguarding the unborn, the newborn, mothers, women in general, and the health and safety of the citizens of this state,” as well as his sworn oaths to protect the nation’s and state’s constitutions.
Similar to his reasoning for vetoing the bill requiring a transvaginal ultrasound before a person can obtain an abortion (a veto which was overridden by the Senate days later), Gordon argued that approving SEA 92 could complicate the ongoing legal proceedings in the Wyoming Supreme Court over abortion’s legality in the Equality State.
“I fear passage of SEA 92 into law will only perpetuate redundant legal challenges, add to the delay Wyoming has already witnessed in litigating the state’s ability to regulate abortion and introduce further complexity into an already robust docket on abortion,” Gordon writes in the letter.
