Joint committee advances bill protecting Wyoming's pregnancy resource centers

A bill to protect the free speech rights of Wyoming's pregnancy resource centers passed a joint committee meeting last week.

Key Takeaways:

• A bill protecting pregnancy resource centers from censorship and discrimination advanced a Wyoming committee last week.

• The bill would allow the centers to offer services to women and families, regardless of the facility's stance on abortion.

• PRCs around the country have been subject to scrutiny and unjust legislation due to their anti-abortion stance following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

The Details:

The “Wyoming Pregnancy Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression (CARE) Act,” passed the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee by a vote of 12-2 on October 16.

The legislation would ensure that the state's pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) would have free speech rights, allowing them to offer counseling and other services without being forced to provide referrals for abortions.

The draft bill prohibits "the state and specified governmental entities from adopting any law, rule or policy that targets pregnancy centers from oversight or regulation based on the centers’ stand against abortion.”

It also specifies that “governmental entities shall not require a pregnancy center to offer or perform abortions, provide abortion-inducing drugs or contraception, or refer or counsel a person in favor of abortion.”

“ This bill prevents them from being singled out for this censorship or discriminatory treatment simply because of their pro-life ethic and practices. It does not, as some opponents falsely claim, make centers and their volunteers or employees completely immune from oversight,” explained Denise Burke, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, during a committee hearing.

Lawmakers in the Wyoming House approved a similar bill early in the year, but the legislation never made it through the Senate.

According to the Casper Star Tribune, the bill will next be discussed in February with the start of the new budget season.

Why It Matters:

PRCs are an invaluable resource to pregnant women and young families, offering things like counseling, ultrasounds, maternity clothes, baby food and clothing, car seats, cribs, and much more.

Though these centers offer no-cost help to pregnant women, they have been targeted by abortion enthusiasts simply because most centers neither offer nor refer for abortions. The reality is, these centers give women the resources they need to continue their pregnancy and raise their babies — a reality that reduces the bottom line of the abortion industry, which profits from the killing of preborn children.

In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, some states went on a rampage against these centers. Many directly tried to attack the free speech of these clinics by preventing them from sharing information about "abortion pill reversal," which may allow a woman to reverse the effects of the abortion pill, thereby saving baby.

During a committee hearing, some opponents of this Wyoming bill claimed that it was unnecessary since no Wyoming PRCs have been targeted. However, the bill's supporters rightly noted that the legislation is a much-needed pre-emptive measure against any future attacks. As legislation elsewhere demonstrates, it may only be a matter of time before Wyoming's PRCs are subject to unjust discrimination.

Go Deeper:

Read more about some of the censorship and discrimination PRCs elsewhere have faced, including stories from California, Vermont, New Jersey, and Massachusetts:

• CA pregnancy centers ask appeals court to restore their freedom of speech

• Supreme Court to hear case of pregnancy center harassed by NJ attorney general

• Pro-life victory: Vermont amends anti-pregnancy center law

• After years of maligning pregnancy centers, abortion advocates try to imitate them

• New Jersey lawmakers seek AG’s impeachment after his continued attack on pregnancy centers

• Massachusetts launches new attack ad campaign against pregnancy help centers