ACLJ Sends Letter to Wyoming Governor in Support of Two Pro-Life Bills
We recently sent a letter to Governor Mark Gordon of Wyoming in support of two pro-life bills that were recently passed by the Wyoming legislature and are now awaiting his signature.
All around the country, state legislatures have been on the move to push for legislation expanding abortion at the behest of the radical abortion lobbyists. The ACLJ has been actively engaged in several states to fight against these horrific bills. The Dobbs decision opened a floodgate of abortion-related statutes at the state and local levels, particularly with regard to pushing abortion on demand and without limits – with some state bills even bordering on legalizing infanticide.
Thankfully, there are some states that not only recognize the sanctity of life, but are actively working to protect it. Wyoming is one of those states.
Two bills were recently passed in the Wyoming State Legislature: House Bill 152, also known as the “Life is a Human Right Act,” and Senate Bill 109. Both of these bills not only seek to protect and preserve the lives of preborn children, but also aid in improving the lives of their parents, family members, and society as a whole. They reflect the importance of every life and the need for each life to be carried to term.
On March 15, 2023, the ACLJ sent a letter to Governor Gordon in support of House Bill 152 and Senate Bill 109. This letter was delivered to the Governor’s office on the morning of March 16. The letter starts by highlighting Wyoming’s history of valuing and protecting preborn life. Though abortion is not explicitly mentioned in the state constitution, it undoubtedly fights for the protection of all life at all stages. As we state in our letter:
Wyoming has a long history of valuing and protecting preborn life. Wyoming enacted its first statute prohibiting abortion before the adoption of its current constitution and before its admission to the Union. Thus, preborn children were recognized as human beings worthy of protection at the time that the Wyoming Constitution was adopted, lending all the more credence to the fact that they should be protected today.
This argument specifically counters statements made by the ACLU in its letter to Governor Gordon opposing HB 152 and SF 109. In its letter, the ACLU claims that HB 152
codifies certain legislators’ beliefs that life begins at fertilization, and would insert certain legislators’ constitutional interpretations into the Wyoming Statutes. The judicial branch of government is charged with interpreting the Constitution, and the Constitution does not delegate this authority to the legislature.
In our letter, we further debunk the ACLU’s argument by explaining that both bills serve to further the public’s and the government’s deeply rooted interests at stake whenever human life is taken:
Both H.B. 152 and S.F. 109 serve to further the public’s and the government’s deeply rooted interests at stake whenever human life is being taken, regardless of whether the circumstance entails abortion, capital punishment, murder, the use of lethal force by individuals asserting defense of self or others, deaths caused in military operations, suicide, or euthanasia.
We point out:
[E]very member of the human race is indeed unique, and their lives are precious. This is no less true of an adult human than a child or preborn baby. Indeed, abortion is one of the gravest offenses against human life and natural rights because it entails the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. It is a procedure that deliberately takes the life of a human being, ending the heartbeat of a living, preborn child. Life is very precious and “a gift that is so unique and wonderful that no mortal man should cheapen it by taking it from another” innocent human being. “It has been said that killing begets killing. The more we kill, the more conditioned we become to killing until we are so conditioned that no one cares anymore.” Hopkinson, 798 P. 2d at 1192. There is no statement that more accurately depicts what has occurred in the United States since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Throughout our letter, we encourage Governor Gordon to sign both bills because they are consistent with Wyoming’s state history and the constituents’ desire to protect innocent human life at all stages.
The ACLJ will continue to advocate for unborn lives and for the health and welfare of the women who carry them. Every life is precious and every life matters. Please read our letter to Governor Gordon and join the fight to protect the sanctity of life!