Wyoming's governor vetoes ultrasound requirement for medication
abortions
[March 05, 2025]
By MEAD GRUVER
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A bill that would require women seeking medication
abortions to get ultrasounds has been vetoed by Wyoming's Republican
governor, who questioned whether it was reasonable and necessary
especially for victims of rape and incest.
“Mandating this intimate, personally invasive, and often medically
unnecessary procedure goes too far,” Gov. Mark Gordon wrote in a letter
explaining his veto late Monday.
The bill stood a chance of becoming law anyway after a 45-16 vote by
Wyoming's House to override Gordon's veto. As of late Tuesday, the bill
had yet to be taken up again by the state Senate where a two-thirds
override vote would make it law.
Groups working to maintain abortion access in Wyoming — the first state
to attempt to explicitly outlaw medication abortions — praised the veto
even though Gordon over the past three years has signed into law several
bills seeking to ban the procedure.
“It’s important that women are able to access this health care without
undue and unnecessary burden," Christine Lichtenfels, executive director
of the abortion access advocate Chelsea's Fund, said Tuesday.
The bill would have required women planning medication abortions to
arrange and potentially drive long distances for ultrasound appointments
in the rural state.
Abortion remains legal in Wyoming pending the outcome of a lawsuit
before the state supreme court challenging the bans. Abortion access has
dwindled, however, since Wyoming's lone full-service abortion clinic
stopped providing both pill and surgical abortions after Gordon signed a
bill into law last week.
That new law requires clinics providing surgical abortions to be
licensed surgical centers. Unable to immediately meet that requirement
and wary of legal implications, Wellspring Health Access in Casper
suspended all abortion services Friday.
As a result, more Wyoming women are likely to travel to Colorado and
other states where abortion remains legal and accessible.
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This April 24, 2023. photo, shows the Wellspring Health Access
clinic in Casper, Wyo. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
 Wellspring Health Access President
Julie Burkhart praised Gordon's veto in a statement and noted the
clinic is still taking calls from patients.
“Despite these new restrictions, Wellspring Health Access remains
open. We have not — and will not — abandon our patients. We are here
for them, now and always,” Burkhart said.
Wellspring is among those challenging the bans and the new licensing
requirement in court.
The vetoed bill would have added a restriction to the vast majority
of abortions in Wyoming. The Guttmacher Institute, a research
organization that supports abortion rights, found that more than 3
in 5 abortions used pills in the U.S. through the formal health care
system in 2023.
Wyoming had the biggest portion of abortions via pill that year: 19
in 20.
Abortion medication remains available in Wyoming through the Just
the Pill telehealth service and online providers such as Abuzz, The
Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, and Aid Access,
according to Chelsea's Fund.
A family medicine physician in Jackson who has been dispensing
abortion medication to Wyoming patients in recent months did not
immediately return a phone message Tuesday asking if they were still
doing so.
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Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this
report.
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