Wyoming governor signs bill prohibiting gender-reassignment procedures on kids, vetoes abortion restrictions.

On Friday, Wyoming's Republican Governor Mark Gordon signed into law a bill prohibiting gender-reassignment procedures on children and vetoed a bill imposing additional restrictions on abortion clinics, such as mandatory licensure.

The SF0099 bill, also known as "Children gender change prohibition," prohibits physicians from performing gender-reassignment procedures on children and administering related medications. The legislation specifically bans surgeries that sterilize the child, including castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty.

The legislation further clarified that any prescription drugs that induce temporary or permanent infertility were prohibited, including a list of medications such as puberty suppression or blocking drugs that halt or delay normal puberty.

The bill specified that certain procedures and treatments performed on a child due to a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development were exempt from the legislation, and that parental/guardian consent was required.

"I signed SF99 because I support the protections this bill includes for children, but I believe that the government is overstepping its bounds by interfering with family affairs. Our legislature needs to clarify its intentions regarding parental rights, as it sometimes prioritizes governmental authority over family autonomy."

Gordon rejected HB0148, the "Regulation of Abortions" bill, which aimed to impose additional restrictions on abortion clinics in the state. The press release stated that the bill aimed to "properly regulate surgical abortion clinics in Wyoming," but "amendments to the bill complicated its purpose, making it vulnerable to legal challenges."

An ambulatory surgical center license would have been required for a surgical abortion facility in the state, and a separate license would have been necessary for the facility conducting the procedures.

"In my view, HB148, as amended, could have prolonged the resolution of this pressing issue for the unborn, according to Gordon. I believe that starting over on a new legal course would be irresponsible and would have resulted in the loss of more unborn lives in Wyoming."

Wyoming's abortion laws are currently being challenged in court, with the legality of abortion in the state hanging in the balance.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the federal government's approval process of mifepristone, a medication used to terminate pregnancies, on Tuesday. A decision is expected in three months.

The FDA is currently permitted to continue regulating the drug during the appeals process, which includes the continuation of telemedicine prescriptions and retail pharmacy dispensing.

This report was contributed to by Shannon Bream of Planet Chronicle, Bill Mears of Planet Chronicle, and The Associated Press.