Columnist Jonathan Lange writes, “During this final week of the 2026 budget session, there is one bill - and one bill only - that can begin to rebuild the wall protecting our most vulnerable citizens – HB126.”
Last week the Wyoming Supreme Court refused the petition of the Attorney General’s Office to rehear the case of State v. Johnson. In three sentences, the Court turned a deaf ear to the cries of the unborn.
In practical terms, four members of the Court have rewritten the laws of the State of Wyoming. They have incorrigibly insisted that their January 6 opinion replace real lawmaking. Without benefit of a single vote of the people or of their elected representatives, they have put Wyoming in the class of states like New York, California and others that are most hostile to the rights of the unborn.
Now that legal minds have had a few weeks to digest their opinion, they are seeing an alarming fact. The majority “held that [Wyoming’s 2022 abortion] laws are unconstitutional.” But it did not hold that the repeal of the previous laws was unconstitutional. That has enormous unintended consequences.
If the Court wanted only to withdraw those protections for the unborn that were strengthened by the Life Is a Human Right Act, they wildly overshot their target. Rather, the Johnson opinion nuked previous protections that had been written into law incrementally over decades. In one fell swoop, Wyoming babies have been tossed into the same bin with the babies of New York and California.
Again, all of this was done without a single vote and without the signature of the governor. Such are the consequences of legislating from the bench.
If this makes the bile rise in your throat, it should. But, to all those whose hearts burn with indignation, remember that all nations are and remain under God - whether their rulers acknowledge it or not. And He who hears the cries of the unborn also will hold those accountable who took oaths in His name. He will act in time.
In the meantime, we have work to do. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).
During this final week of the 2026 budget session, there is one bill that can begin to rebuild the wall protecting our most vulnerable citizens. HB 126 Human heartbeat act is sponsored by House Speaker, Chip Neiman (R-Hulett) and co-sponsored by over 40% of all senators and representatives.
The bill starts with the Court’s admission that the state does, indeed, have an “interest in protecting prenatal life.” Some unborn members of the human race, at least, have “a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Wyoming Constitution Art. 1, Sec. 2) and the State of Wyoming is constitutionally obligated to protect that right.
The Human Heartbeat Act would establish a baseline against the shedding of blood once it is circulating in the human body. Surely, we can at least be that civilized.
Basic embryology finds that the heart begins to form in the fifth week of pregnancy and is fully developed by the tenth week. During this time, heartbeats can be detected by ultrasound. The proposed legislation would require an abortionist to determine “whether an unborn child has a detectable fetal heartbeat” before performing an abortion.
You can expect to hear the same old threadbare arguments against the Human Heartbeat Act that are always raised by those whose beating hearts refuse to protect the beating hearts of the unborn. Don’t let them distract you.
HB 126 has been carefully crafted to enact the legitimate interests of the State of Wyoming without the kinds of unintended consequences that result from small cadres of lawyers writing new law from the bench.
It has already passed the House on a vote of 51-7. Even several representatives who at first voted against bringing it to the floor, ended up voting in favor of it.
On Friday it passed out of the Senate Labor Committee with strong and important amendments. Next Wednesday, this massively important legislation could be on the governor’s desk.
You can “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute” by contacting your senator and helping him or her see the necessity of HB 126.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
