Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Once again the so-called “pro-life” members of the Wyoming Legislature appear in public wearing only the emperor’s clothes. 

House Bill 152 would force every pregnant Wyoming woman, even those pregnant by rape, to bring their pregnancies to fruition. 

Every House member who voted in favor of this draconian measure also voted against House Bill 65, which would have put $46 million into a trust fund to fund the suicide prevention hot line in perpetuity. Some of those voting no on HB 65 suggested that the prevention hotline supporters should solicit private donations to keep that service alive. 

It’s not that these lawmakers are being conservative with the state’s money. No, they thought we have enough excess cash to support HB 69, which would provide funding to sue states who are proposing to quit buying Wyoming coal. 

So once again the far right, “pro-life” contingent of influential Wyoming legislators is showing its actual stance toward life. They are not at all about the sanctity of life. They care only about punishing people who have committed the sin of being unfortunate.

Unfortunate enough to have become pregnant against their will. Unfortunate enough to need health care but to work at a job that doesn’t pay enough to leave any cash on the table for seeing a doctor after juggling to pay all the other bills. Unfortunate enough, after evaluating the hopelessness of their lives, to decide that perhaps killing themselves is a good option. 

To make the matter even more enraging, many, if not most, of these same rabid right-wing lawmakers also claim to be adherents of Christianity. If they bothered to think about the teachings of Jesus, they would notice that He never called being unfortunate a sin.

Rather, he pointed out that having the unfortunate among us is the clarion call to the believer to be merciful. 

How wonderful it would be if our legislators learned mercy!

Ernest Reinhold