(RepublicanJournal.org) – Wyoming’s Republican governor has decided to oppose his state’s legislature, which is overwhelmingly dominated by his own party. Governor Mark Gordon vetoed a bill that targeted the state’s only full-service abortion clinic — but not because he’s against its pro-life principles. Instead, he says, the bill is open to legal challenge and could interfere with finding a proper solution to the abortion issue.
On March 22, Gordon was handed two bills recently passed by the Wyoming Legislature, which has a huge GOP majority — 20 of 31 state senators, and 57 of 62 representatives, are Republican. One of the bills was a ban on “gender-affirming” care for children, which the governor signed. The other was a bill that would have imposed severe restrictions on the state’s only clinic that offers surgical as well as pharmaceutical abortions.
If passed, the bill would have required women who want abortions to have an ultrasound exam at least 48 hours before the procedure. It would also have mandated all physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within ten miles of the clinic. Julie Burkhart, who founded the Wellspring Health Access clinic, argued that admitting privileges are unnecessary and claimed the bill’s aim was to shut the clinic down.
Gordon exercised his gubernatorial veto and refused to sign the bill, but that doesn’t mean he agrees with Burkhart. Last year Gordon signed another bill that banned abortion in the state. That law is currently on hold after a federal judge blocked it, but it’s now headed for the state’s supreme court and the governor is looking for “a decision on the constitutionality of abortion in Wyoming.” In a statement released after he vetoed the latest bill, he warned the legislation could delay that decision — but also said it would have “properly regulated” clinics, implying he doesn’t think they’re properly regulated now.
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