Abortion

Wyoming Legislative Committee Rejects “Informed Consent” Bill as Medically Unnecessary

Wyoming has a common sense approach to abortion, let doctors decide the protocol, not legislators.

Wyoming Capitol. (Amy Richards/TSM via KGAB)

The Wyoming Senate Judiciary committee voted almost unanimously to reject a bill that would require doctors to provide inaccurate medical information to women seeking abortion care and counsel them on alternatives to having the procedure. It also rejected a forced 24-hour waiting period before terminating a pregnancy.

The Committee voted 4-to-1 to reject an “informed consent bill” that would have forced those who wanted an abortion to be given medically inaccurate information about risks and complications, abortion alternatives and ultrasounds, and force women to wait 24 hours after first being seen to have the procedure. Bill sponsor Senator Leslie Nutting dubbed it a “pro-women” bill, arguing that women are “too young” to know what an abortion is and what they will be doing unless someone explains it in great detail to them and forces them to wait and rethink their decisions.

“A majority of the women (getting an abortion) are under the age of 25 years old, and some are younger than that,” she told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. “So it’s a group that really needs information. This is information is needed by the woman so she can have a real choice because real choice demands knowledge.”

This makes the second abortion-related bill rejected by Wyoming committees. A “heartbeat” ban was killed in a House committee earlier in the week.