Bill
SF 125
The bill redefines health care to exclude abortion, with narrow exceptions, affecting how laws, licenses, and regulations interpret health care in Wyoming.
Status and key dates
- Introduced: January 23, 2025.
- Passed Senate (final): 24–6–1 on Feb 12, 2025; passed House (final): 51–9–2 on Mar 4, 2025; S concurred Mar 4, 2025.
- Assigned Enrolled Act No. 92 and signed by legislative leaders Mar 5, 2025.
- Governor vetoed (SEA No. 0092) on March 14, 2025 — the veto prevents the bill becoming law unless the Legislature overrides the veto.
Purpose and intent
- To create a statewide statutory definition and rules of construction for “health care” under the Wyoming Constitution and all state statutes, accompanied by legislative findings asserting that unborn human life begins at fertilization/conception and that abortion is the termination of that life.
- To specify that, for legal interpretation across Wyoming law, abortion (as defined in the bill) is not “health care,” while identifying limited exceptions and other categories to be treated as health care.
Major provisions (summary)
- Creates W.S. 8-1-110 — “Definition of health care; rules of construction; purposes; legislative findings; definitions.”
- Core rule: For purposes of constitutional and statutory interpretation in Wyoming, abortion (defined by cross-reference to W.S. 35‑6‑122(a)(i) / expanded definitions in the bill) is not health care.
- Exceptions: The bill lists specific circumstances that are to be construed as health care or permitted, including:
- Pre‑viability separation procedures that a physician reasonably judges necessary to prevent the pregnant person’s death or substantial risk of death or serious permanent impairment of a life‑sustaining organ, provided reasonable efforts are made to preserve both lives.
- Medical treatment resulting in accidental or unintentional injury or death of an unborn baby.
- Abortions for pregnancies resulting from incest or sexual assault (with prior required law‑enforcement reporting and copy provided to the physician).
- Abortions where a physician reasonably judges the fetus has a lethal fetal anomaly or the pregnancy is a molar pregnancy.
- Other definitions in the bill clarify “abortion,” “pregnant,” “ectopic pregnancy,” “lethal fetal anomaly,” “reasonable medical judgment,” and “unborn baby/unborn human being” (defined from fertilization to birth).
- Legislative findings assert state authority to restrict or prohibit abortion to protect prenatal life and the health and welfare of the people, citing constitutional provisions and Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org.
- Effective date (contingent): the enrolled text provides the act would take effect on the earlier of March 12, 2026, or the date the Wyoming Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the “Life is a Human Right Act” (W.S. 35‑6‑120 through 35‑6‑138); the attorney general is to certify that date to the Secretary of State.
Fiscal note
- Legislative Service Office fiscal note: “No significant fiscal or personnel impact.”
- Note: a Committee of the Whole amendment added (and later renumbered) a one‑time appropriation provision in some amendment versions: $3,860,000 general fund and $3,860,000 federal funds to the Department of Health for home and community‑based services — that amendment was adopted in committee and appears in amendment histories; readers should check the enrolled text and veto message for final inclusion.
Who would be affected
- Pregnant persons and health‑care providers (physicians and other licensed medical providers).
- State agencies, courts, insurers, and any statutes or regulations that rely on the statutory meaning of “health care” — because the bill directs courts and agencies to interpret “health care” to exclude abortion (with stated exceptions).
- Medical licensing and professional standards may be implicated by the changed statutory construction.
Practical and legal implications
- Reclassifying abortion as not “health care” for statutory construction would affect interpretation of many laws and regulatory schemes that use the term “health care” (coverage, licensing, permitted procedures, reporting obligations, etc.).
- Narrowly‑defined medical exceptions and reporting requirements (e.g., for incest/assault) may create operational and legal constraints for providers.
- The bill anticipates judicial review: its contingent effective date ties implementation to a pending Wyoming Supreme Court decision concerning related abortion statutes. Given the Governor’s veto, the bill is not in force unless overridden.
Additional notes
- Multiple committee and floor amendments modified language (definitions, scope, effective date, and other details) during passage; interested readers should consult the enrolled bill text, amendment history, and the Governor’s veto message for final language and legislative intent.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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