By Jasmine Hall
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — The Wyoming Senate set the override of Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto of House Bill 64 into stone on Wednesday.

The new law will require women to have a transvaginal ultrasound at least 48 hours prior to a medical abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Gordon vetoed the bill Monday and questioned whether “this invasive ultrasound is absolutely necessary, fully informative or can even be considered a reasonable requirement for this procedure regardless of the circumstances in the pregnancy.”

Lawmakers ultimately decided it was.

“Many can say that this is intrusive, but the facts are these abortion drugs are not safe after a certain gestational period of the baby and that’s exactly the reason for the vaginal ultrasound,” state Sen. Laura Pearson, R-Kemmerer, said before the vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

Dissent in the Senate centered in part on the lack of exceptions for rape victims and childhood sexual abuse survivors.

“If we were looking out for women, we would want to empower women to be able to work with their own health care provider, or make their own decisions along with that health care provider,” said Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie. “This is trying to make it a burden to undertake a chemical abortion when that’s in the interest of the woman.”

But the Senate voted 22-9 to override Gordon’s veto. 

A two-thirds vote is required in both chambers, and the threshold was met. The House voted 45-16-1 on Tuesday to override the veto of HB 64. 

Teton County Reps. Mike Yin and Liz Storer, both Democrats, and Andrew Byron, a Republican, voted against overriding it. Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, also voted against it, while Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, voted in favor of HB 64 becoming law.

“No government should ever force a procedure such as a transvaginal ultrasound on any woman for any reason addressed in this legislation,” Byron said.

“It’s embarrassing that it has come to this,” he added.

Marti Halverson, president of Right To Life Wyoming, told the Jackson Hole Daily, “We knew the governor was working hard, but we knew others were working hard as well. And the fact that we got it with one vote extra makes it all the more sweeter.”

Abortion advocates and providers are ready with a legal challenge, according to Dr. Giovannina Anthony, an OB-GYN and plaintiff in an abortion case awaiting the Wyoming Supreme Court’s decision.

“In addition to flagrant government overreach, there is zero regard for the concerns outlined by the governor’s veto. Victims of abuse, rape and incest join all Wyoming women now in the cruel violation of human rights,” she said.