Wyoming gets first pro-life legislation since 1989

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead signed two pro-life bills into law Thursday, the first abortion regulation approved in the deeply red state in nearly three decades.

H.B. 182 requires abortionists to notify a woman she is entitled to see an “active ultrasound” of her unborn baby and, if possible, listen to the heartbeat. The bill makes exceptions for danger to the mother’s life.

H.B. 116 makes it a felony to sell, transfer, or distribute tissue or cells from an aborted baby for the purpose of experimentation.

Although Republicans have controlled the state legislature and held the governor’s mansion in recent years, the last pro-life law signed by a Wyoming governor involved parental notification. It was enacted in 1989.

Denise Burke, vice president of legal affairs for Americans United for Life, applauded Mead’s decision to sign the legislation.

“Women should always have the choice to look at ultrasound images,” she said in a statement. “Withholding those images denies women important information that impacts their abortion decisions and an experience they can never recapture.”

She also hailed H.B. 116 as another victory for the pro-life movement: “A humane society does not dispose of unborn infants as trash or spare parts.”

Mead did not offer comments before signing the bills, which will go into effect July 1.

The new laws are part of a wave of state-level pro-life legislation introduced around the country. Among the laws already passed are Kentucky’s 20-week abortion ban and a bill requiring abortionists to show mothers an ultrasound before performing an abortion.

Not all pro-life bills have met with success: Last month, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill that sought to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect its state funding to community health centers that do not perform abortions.

Republicans in the U.S. House currently are deliberating legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, and part of their efforts include redirecting federal funding from Planned Parenthood, though some pro-life leaders fear the legislation could still funnel money to the abortion giant.