At the end of March, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon vetoed a bill that would have required medical care for babies born alive during attempted abortions. Senate File 97 would have provided additional protections for abortion survivors and included penalties for abortionists who failed to provide “commonly accepted means of care that would be rendered to any other infant born alive.”
Governor Gordon has previously signed pro-life bills into law, and his veto was a surprise to some pro-life groups. In his veto message, Gordon justified his decision using dishonest talking points from pro-abortion groups, which claim that protecting babies born alive in abortions would penalize parents and doctors caring for babies born with life-limiting conditions.
Acknowledging that babies are, in fact, born alive during attempted abortions (and are not a “myth,” as pro-abortion groups continue to insist), Gordon wrote, “Laws already in place protect children from being denied life-saving care simply because they were born as a result of an abortion. This bill will not do anything to improve on those laws which already exist.” This is inaccurate. While there is federal legislation which states that abortion survivors should be treated as person entitled to all protections of the law, that particular law includes no penalties for those who violate the law, and does not specify the medical treatment infants born alive in botched abortions should receive.
READ: Why we must pass the born-alive bill: OBGYN yells at doctor for saving aborted baby born alive
After the repeated failure of Congress to successfully pass a meaningful reform of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on the federal level, pro-life state legislators, like those in Wyoming, have sought to rectify the issue at the state level.
Pro-life groups have voiced their disappointment with the governor’s decision to veto this life-saving legislation in Wyoming. Bridget Delany, president of Students for Life at the University of Wyoming, said:
We are very disappointed about Governor Gordon’s decision to veto Senate File 97: Born Alive Infant Means of Care. We fought for this bill in the House and Senate and thought our supposedly ‘pro-life’ governor would not be opposed to this legislation.
This bill is not about abortion and is specifically about the right to life that a living, breathing infant has been given. This bill is an anti-infanticide piece of legislation and we are very disappointed it did not pass. Many Wyoming legislators fought for this bill that are consistent advocates for life and we are grateful for them. Governor Gordon please listen to the elected legislators and pass bills protecting human life!
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