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Lawmakers hear bill to treat surgical abortion facilities as ambulatory surgical centers; hearing to continue Friday
Summary
Representative Martha Lawley introduced House Bill 42 to require licensure and ambulatory surgical‑center standards for surgical abortion facilities; the Department of Health described implementation mechanics and public comment will continue at a later meeting.
Representative Martha Lawley introduced House Bill 42, which would require facilities performing surgical abortions to be licensed and regulated as ambulatory surgical centers, and the committee heard initial testimony before deferring further public comment to a later meeting.
Under the bill, a surgical abortion facility would be defined as an ambulatory surgical center and subject to ambulatory surgical‑center licensure and survey requirements. The bill would require facilities to report surgical abortions to the Department of Health, require licensed physicians performing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges (the bill specifies privileges at a hospital not more than 10 miles away), and make licenses nontransferable. Penalties for failure to comply were included; committee staff noted a typographical correction to an apparent fine amount in an LSO amendment to replace an unintended million‑dollar value with $1,000.
Stefan Johansen, director of the Wyoming Department of Health, told the committee that the Department of Health's Office of Healthcare Licensing and Survey already surveys ambulatory surgical centers on a roughly multi‑year cycle and could incorporate the additional provider type into current processes. He also noted the bill did not include a department fiscal note and that survey responsibilities would be added to existing workflows; the department indicated it believed it could absorb the duties under current operations but flagged the addition of regulatory tasks.
Public commenters already in the hearing strongly opposed the bill, arguing it amounted to a targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) that would increase costs and threaten the only clinic in the state that provides both medication and procedural abortions. Wellspring Health Access said the facility would face costly construction and facility upgrades to comply and that hospital admitting privileges are often impossible to obtain for physicians who do not admit hospital patients regularly.
"To comply with this trap bill, it would force us to undergo extensive construction on our clinic... expanding hallways, altering the dimensions of our procedure rooms, changing out our HVAC system," said Katie Knetter, executive director of Wellspring Health Access. Dr. Renee Hinkle, an OB‑GYN in Cheyenne, said many routine office procedures already use imaging and that surgical abortion is among the safer procedures compared with risks of pregnancy.
Committee members raised rural‑access concerns about the bill's 10‑mile admitting‑privilege requirement and suggested possible adjustments, such as measuring distance to the nearest hospital when geography makes the 10‑mile rule impractical. The committee agreed to continue public comment on Friday and reconvene to complete testimony and take further action.
No committee vote was taken on House Bill 42 during the session; the hearing was continued.
Votes at a glance: House Bill 42 — No committee vote recorded; public comment to resume at the next scheduled committee meeting.
