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House rejects amendment demanding accuracy and ethics requirements for pregnancy resource centers
Summary
Members debated House Bill 273, which grants liability protections to pregnancy resource centers. An amendment requiring medically accurate information and ethics standards for centers that the bill protects failed; sponsors and opponents disputed vagueness and legal enforceability.
House Bill 273, titled "Wyoming Pregnancy Centers, Autonomy and Rights," received floor debate Feb. 6 on an amendment that would have required pregnancy resource centers covered by the bill to provide medically accurate information and to follow healthcare ethics guidelines.
Representative Provenza moved the amendment, saying the bill would grant novel civil immunity to nonprofit centers and that, if the Legislature extends legal protections, it should also require accuracy and ethical safeguards. "This is just a simple amendment to ask for some honesty," Provenza told the House, arguing that centers often serve people seeking help and should not provide misleading information.
Opponents said the amendment used vague and legally unenforceable terms. Representative Rodriguez Williams argued the phrases such as "medically accurate" and required ethical standards were undefined and could invite "second‑guessing retroactive criticism." Representative Campbell supported requiring some standards if the body grants immunity to private nonprofits.
The House rejected the amendment on the floor; the bill was ordered read a third time in the provided excerpt. Lawmakers debated the scope of immunity and whether government should provide protections to private nonprofits without attaching standards.
What happens next: HB273 moved toward third reading after the defeat of the amendment; the transcript does not show final passage.
