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The Senate dedicated a great deal of time and energy this week debating the merits of Senate File 125: Defining health care and protecting the people's welfare. This bill, as introduced, would have had significant unintended consequences for healthcare, and carried potential for dramatic ambiguity in interpretation according to legal experts and healthcare professionals.
SF125 was drafted to protect the unborn by more clearly defining what is and is not healthcare in WY statute for purposes of constitutional interpretation. However, without amendments, the bill reached far beyond the intended purposes raising questions about the ongoing legality of a long list of healthcare treatments including mental healthcare, elective procedures, cultural and preference-driven procedures such as circumcision, medications, treatments to address medical conditions not defined as injury or illness, and more.
The hour had gotten late when the Senate took up this bill Monday evening which likely contributed to the spiciness that accompanied some of the floor discussion. For anyone interested and with 30 minutes to spare, the video is linked below. They debated the Standing Committee Amendment which was originally necessary for the original draft of the bill to not unintentionally prohibit all of healthcare in Wyoming unless the care was being rendered to a pregnant woman for life-saving purposes. After a bit of heated sparring, the Senate elected to pass the Standing Committee Amendment and pass the bill for consideration on Second Reading.
On Tuesday, they picked up where they left off with yet another extensive amendment for debate on Second Reading. This amendment aimed to address the concerns raised in the First Reading debate around the question of whether or not the bill managed to unintentionally prohibit all of mental health and IVF procedures in the state. The second reading amendment also made a critical change in the prohibition section shifting the language from healthcare not being anything that could "harm" to health care not being defined as anything that could "terminate" the heart, brain, central nervous system or respiratory systems.
Wednesday closed debate on Senate File 125 with yet another amendment. This Third Reading Amendment managed to essentially gut the bill and simply replace all of the controversial language with a very simple statement that, "abortion, as defined in W.S. 35-6-122(a)(I), is not health care". This Third Reading Amendment easily passed the Senate as did the bill on final reading with a vote of 24 ayes and 6 nos with 1 member excused.
This bill beautifully demonstrates the need for physician advocates to be in the capitol and at the table in these conversations. WMS is honored to be considered a resource for lawmakers and a voice of expertise on these complicated bills that often do far more than is intended. The engrossed version of Senate File 125 is now headed to the House for deliberation.
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