Wyoming legislature introduces new TRAP law

A restrictive proposal would seek to drive one remaining clinic out of business.

Wyoming legislators are attempting to pass another restrictive law that would impose costly regulations on abortion providers that would drive them out of business.

It is another example of what is known as TRAP laws, short for Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers, which aim to raise the cost of operating to such a level as to put the facility out of business. Only one abortion clinic remains in Wyoming–Wellspring Health Access in Casper. The idea behind the bill is to force it to become a licensed ambulatory center, meaning it would have to pay more money to comply. I spoke with Megan Hayes, board chairwoman of Pro-Choice Wyoming, about it.

“Abortions are not surgery. There is no incision made,” Hayes said. “This is akin to requiring a dentist's office, for example, to be a licensed Ambulatory Surgical Center. It will require that clinic to make unnecessary and costly structural changes to its clinics, which is not indicated medically for patient care.”

State Representative Martha Lawley is the bill’s sponsor. She told Cowboy State Daily, a publication in Wyoming, that the legislation was not designed to put the facility out of business. Rather, it was to ensure safety, according to her reason for introducing the bill.

If the bill passed, any unlicensed physician who performed an abortion could face one to 14 years in prison. Clinics could face $1,000 fines. They also have to report each surgical abortion to the state, which brings in privacy questions for the women who get the abortions.

Here’s more from Cowboy State Daily:

Although not all OB-GYN facilities offer abortions, they all would be considered ambulatory surgical centers under the new regulation the bill creates. In the last few years, four of these clinics have closed in the Cowboy State.

Another important feature of the bill is that no person shall perform a surgical abortion in Wyoming who is not a licensed physician with admitting privileges at a hospital located no more than 10 miles from the abortion clinic. The threshold for other surgical procedures in Wyoming is 50 miles.

The latter part may not seem significant unless you’ve driven through Wyoming and seen how some parts of the state are complete wilderness with no sign of humanity, let alone a hospital, for hundreds of miles. So, that means that abortion clinics couldn’t be established in most parts of the state as a result.

Hayes described the effort as a ploy.

“It has no medical reason behind it other than an interest in closing the one clinic that provides abortion and other reproductive health care to women, not just in Wyoming but also in neighboring states where abortion is now illegal,” Hayes said.