This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
The Wyoming House overrode one of Gov. Mark Gordon’s first vetoes of the legislative session.
In a 45 to 16 vote on March 4, representatives brought back a measure requiring pregnant Wyomingites to have a transvaginal ultrasound 48 hours before being prescribed abortion medication.
Transvaginal ultrasounds involve inserting a device into a woman’s vagina to check for a fetal heartbeat.
In his veto letter, Gordon worried about victims of childhood sexual abuse, rape and incest, for whom procedures like transvaginal ultrasounds could be retraumatizing experiences. “This Act does not account for the specific populations who may be more vulnerable to psychological effects related to the procedure,” he wrote.
He continued, “Forcing victims of rape to endure such an invasion a second time seems cruel.”
The bill now heads back to the Senate for a potential override vote. If two-thirds of the upper chamber opts to do that, the bill will become law.
At a recent press conference hosted by the leaders of Wellspring Health Access, the only clinic that provides procedural abortions in Wyoming, clinic Executive Director Katie Knutter said that for many of their patients choosing to have a medication abortion, “the type of ultrasound that they would have to have would be a transvaginal ultrasound, which is considerably more traumatizing for some patients due to the nature of how it occurs.”
“So it really would usurp that relationship between the doctor and the patient,” said Knutter.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
