Wyoming appears poised to join about a dozen other states with trigger laws that will protect unborn babies by banning abortions as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
On Thursday, the state Senate approved the pro-life legislation, state House Bill 92, in a 24-5 vote. Though the bill already passed the state House by a strong majority March 1, it must go back for a second time to be approved with new amendments.
Wyoming Public Radio reports the state Senate voted Wednesday to amend the bill to include the rape and incest exceptions.
Sponsored by state Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, the bill would ban abortions in Wyoming as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe. Exceptions would be allowed if the mother’s life is at risk and for victims of rape or incest.
“A trigger bill is an abortion ban in waiting,” Rodriguez-Williams told lawmakers in February. “The vast majority of Wyomingites support life from conception to natural death.”
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After the vote, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming issued a statement slamming the bill as a violation of “pregnant people’s” rights, K2 Radio reports.
“It’s clear that some of our lawmakers aren’t concerned about the rights and well-being of pregnant people. If they were, they would expand access to quality reproductive health care instead of restricting it,” Libby Skarin, ACLU of Wyoming campaigns director, said in a statement.
If the trigger bill passes, Wyoming would join at least 12 other states with trigger laws that immediately would ban abortions once Roe is overturned, according to the Casper Star Tribune.
The legislation would save nearly 100 unborn babies every year. Wyoming reported 91 abortions in 2020, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Currently, because of Roe, states are forced to legalize abortions up to viability. However, the Supreme Court is considering a Mississippi case that challenges that precedent, and a ruling is expected this summer.
Across the country, state lawmakers are introducing legislation to protect unborn babies from abortion in the hopes that the Supreme Court will overturn its deadly abortion ruling this year. Florida just passed a 15-week abortion ban that would save thousands of unborn babies from abortion every year. West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona and other states also are advancing pro-life legislation this spring.
Pro-life advocates also are working to expand support services for pregnant and parenting moms in anticipation that Roe may be overturned as soon as June.
Researchers estimated that abortion numbers would drop by about 120,000 in the first year and potentially even more in subsequent years if the high court allows states to ban abortions again.
Since Roe in 1973, more than 63.5 million unborn babies have been killed in abortions.
