Looking for the trigger?

In spite of all the discussion on "trigger laws", one thing that seemingly hasn't been noticed in Wyoming is that the Governor hasn't pulled the trigger.

There's no good excuse for this.

Here's the text of Wyoming's trigger law.

ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED

BILL NO. HB0092

 

ENROLLED ACT NO. 57, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

SIXTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2022 BUDGET SESSION

 

 

 

 

AN ACT relating to abortion; limiting the circumstances under which an abortion may be performed; limiting the use of appropriated funds; providing a delayed effective date pending certification by the governor of actions of the United States supreme court; requiring reports; and providing for an effective date.

 

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

 

Section 1.  W.S. 35‑6‑102 and 35‑6‑117 are amended to read:

 

35‑6‑102.  Abortion restrictions; exception.

 

(a)  An abortion shall not be performed after the embryo or fetus has reached viability except when necessary to preserve the woman from an imminent peril that substantially endangers her life or health, according to appropriate medical judgment. This subsection is repealed on the date that subsection (b) of this section becomes effective.

 

(b)  An abortion shall not be performed except when necessary to preserve the woman from a serious risk of death or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions, or the pregnancy is the result of incest as defined by W.S. 6-4-402 or sexual assault as defined by W.S. 6-2-301. This subsection shall be effective five (5) days after the date that the governor, on advice of the attorney general, certifies to the secretary of state that the supreme court of the United States has overruled Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) in a manner that would authorize the enforcement of this subsection or has otherwise issued a final decision related to abortion that would authorize the enforcement of this subsection in accordance with that decision and without violating any conditions, rights or restrictions recognized by the supreme court.

 

(c)  For purposes of subsection (b) of this section the attorney general shall review any final decisions of the supreme court of the United States related to Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) or otherwise related to abortion to determine whether the enforcement of subsection (b) of this section would be fully authorized under that decision. The attorney general shall, within thirty (30) days of the date of the final decision of the supreme court, report the results of each review under this subsection to the joint judiciary interim committee and the governor who may, if applicable, certify the results of the review to the office of the secretary of state.

 

35‑6‑117.  Use of appropriated funds for abortion prohibited; exceptions.

 

(a)  No funds appropriated by the legislature of the state of Wyoming shall be used to pay for abortions except when the pregnancy is the result of incest as defined by W.S. 6‑4‑402 or sexual assault as defined by W.S. 6‑2‑301 if the assault is reported to a law enforcement agency within five (5) days after the assault or within five (5) days after the time the victim is capable of reporting the assault, or when the life of the mother would be endangered if the unborn child was carried to full term. This subsection is repealed on the date that subsection (b) of this section becomes effective.

 

(b)  No funds appropriated by the legislature of the state of Wyoming shall be used to pay for abortions except when necessary to preserve the woman from a serious risk of death or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions, or the pregnancy is the result of incest as defined by W.S. 6-4-402 or sexual assault as defined by W.S. 6-2-301. This subsection is effective on the same date that W.S. 35‑6‑102(b) is effective.

 

Section 2.  

 

(a)  After receiving certification from the governor that W.S. 35‑6‑102(b) is effective as provided in that subsection, the secretary of state shall report that fact to the management council of the legislature, the joint judiciary interim committee and the Wyoming state board of medicine and shall immediately publish the effective date of W.S. 35‑6‑102(b) and 35‑6‑117(b) on the website of the secretary of state's office, which effective date shall be five (5) days after the date that the secretary of state received the certification. The publication under this section shall also provide that W.S. 35‑6‑102(a) and 35‑6‑117(a) are repealed on that date.

 

(b)  After receiving a report under subsection (a) of this section, the joint judiciary interim committee shall review the provisions of title 35, chapter 6 of the Wyoming statutes to determine if any additional revisions to the statutes are advisable and to develop any necessary legislation.

 

Section 3.  This act is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

 

(END)

 

 

Speaker of the House			President of the Senate

 

	Governor
	TIME APPROVED: _________
	DATE APPROVED: _________

 

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

 

 

 

Chief Clerk

To the extent there's been any discussion about this at all, it's been on this text here:

c)  For purposes of subsection (b) of this section the attorney general shall review any final decisions of the supreme court of the United States related to Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) or otherwise related to abortion to determine whether the enforcement of subsection (b) of this section would be fully authorized under that decision. The attorney general shall, within thirty (30) days of the date of the final decision of the supreme court, report the results of each review under this subsection to the joint judiciary interim committee and the governor who may, if applicable, certify the results of the review to the office of the secretary of state.

A couple of things.

This gives the Attorney General thirty days, but come on, even though its a long decision, the results are obvious now and any lawyer could have gotten through this in a day and surely pondered anything necessary within a couple.

As far as we know, however, the AG hasn't sent over her report.

What's the hold up?

Bad drafting might be it.  From the text, it's unclear if the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee and the Governor, together, have to certify the results if they do, or if either one can, or if just the Governor can.

Didn't anyone read this?

Additionally, "may", we'd note, is an optional provision, not a mandatory one.

Here's another problem.  Some time ago, the Wyoming Constitution was amended as follows:

Article 1, Section 38 Right of health care access. 

(a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions. The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person. 

(b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so. 

(c) The legislature may determine reasonable and necessary restrictions on the rights granted under this section to protect the health and general welfare of the people or to accomplish the other purposes set forth in the Wyoming Constitution. 

(d) The state of Wyoming shall act to preserve these rights from undue governmental infringement.  

This is an example of tinkering with the state's constitution when you ought not to.  What's this actually mean?

Pro abortion propagandist have caste abortion as health care, which it in no fashion is.  But because that argument is out there, the AG may be delaying to determine the extent to which the opinion seems to be drafted in that fashion.  I haven't read it yet, so I don't know.  Anyway you look at it, the backers of Article 1 Sec 38, who were no doubt trying to make a conservative argument, may have ended up making a liberal one instead.

On this, we might keep in mind that it was the Wyoming Supreme Court that first found any sort of right for homosexual unions in the form of state marriages at all, overruling the opinion of a district court judge who is now on the Supreme Court.  Just like the U.S. Supreme Court, the Wyoming Supreme Court isn't really beholding to public opinion.

Overshadowing it all, if you feel that abortion takes a human life, and I do, every day's delay puts lives in jeopardy and maybe results in deaths.

The trigger is going to have to be pulled to get this matter headed wherevver it is going.