As the Wyoming legislature wraps up the 2023 session, the ACLU of Wyoming is urging Gov. Mark Gordon to veto three bills.
- Senate File 109 bans medication abortion, a safe and common method of terminating a pregnancy. Medication abortion is safe, common and essential health care. It is preferred by some patients because it allows patients to have more control over their abortion and more privacy, and for some people it is not only preferred, but medically indicated. Banning this method of terminating a pregnancy creates unnecessary restrictions for people accessing essential medical care.
- House Bill 152 bans abortion care in Wyoming with limited exceptions and will take effect if last year’s abortion law is found unconstitutional. This far-reaching bill is deeply harmful to people who can get pregnant. Forcing people to carry a pregnancy against their will has life-altering consequences, including enduring serious health risks from continued pregnancy and childbirth, making it harder to escape poverty, derailing their education and career plans and making it more difficult to leave an abusive partner.
- Senate File 133 prohibits transgender student athletes from playing on teams that match their gender identity. This bill isn’t about protecting fairness in sports. It’s a bill that violates the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which protects all students – including those who are transgender – from discrimination based on sex. It’s a bill that erases and excludes trans people from participation in all aspects of public life. And it's a bill that creates a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, harming some of the most vulnerable people in Wyoming.
“We send people to Cheyenne to solve actual problems in our state, not to find ways to spread discriminatory rhetoric about trans youth or to insert themselves into private medical decisions like abortion,” said Antonio Serrano, ACLU of Wyoming advocacy director. “Decisions made during the annual sessions of the Wyoming Legislature have a deep and lasting impact on our state’s people and communities. The harmful impact Senate File 109, Senate File 133 and House Bill 152 will have on our state will be long lasting and devastating. Is this what we really want for Wyoming? Gov. Gordon needs to veto these bills.”
The ACLU of Wyoming’s letters to Gov. Gordon are below.
About the ACLU of Wyoming
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU of Wyoming is part of a three-state chapter that also includes North Dakota and South Dakota. The team in Wyoming is supported by staff in those states.
The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, and the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people. In addition, the ACLU seeks to advance constitutional protections for groups traditionally denied their rights, including people of color, women, and the LGBTQ communities. The ACLU of Wyoming carries out its work through selective litigation, lobbying at the state and local level, and through public education and awareness of what the Bill of Rights means for the people of Wyoming.
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