A group of Wyoming Republican lawmakers have resumed Precious Feet Fridays, a weekly show of support for the right to life of every unborn child.

“There is no greater calling than to uphold the precious value of human life,” said Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette. “The Wyoming Constitution expressly states, ‘In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal.’ We believe those innate rights begin at conception and, accordingly, that we have a responsibility to defend the sanctity of life, beginning in the womb.”

Members participating in Precious Feet Fridays are wearing lapel pins the size and shape of the feet of a 10-week-old unborn baby each Friday during the 66th Wyoming Legislative Session. Wyoming Right to Life is providing the pins to lawmakers and guests to the State Capitol who share the pro-life message.  

“Life begins at conception. So too should the personal rights and protections that are enumerated in the Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions,” said Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody. The freshman lawmaker has introduced House Bill 70, Informed Consent, which would require doctors to offer women seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound and hear the unborn child’s heartbeat and to tell the woman the “probable gestational age and a description of the development of the unborn child at the time the abortion would be performed.” The legislation would also require doctors to give the patient information about the procedure — including “risks and alternatives to abortion procedures” and “the potential impacts of the abortion on the patients’ mental health.” The proposed legislation would give the Wyoming Board of Medicine the ability to discipline doctors if they don’t follow the law.

“Every woman considering the difficult decision of an abortion should have full information to protect against an uninformed decision, which is what House Bill 70 seeks to do,” Rodriguez-Williams said. State Sen. Tim French, R-Powell, is one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

Precious Feet Friday was first started in the Wyoming Legislature in 2017 and is continued on by members committed to protecting the right to life across the Cowboy State. More than 862,000 pregnancies were terminated in abortion nationally in 2017 (the most recent data), representing about 18% of all pregnancies. There are 10 pregnancy resources centers across Wyoming that provide support for women and couples; Rodriguez-Williams is the executive director of one of those facilities, Serenity Pregnancy Resource Center, which operates in Powell and Cody.

“Wyoming has long been a place that champions the inalienable rights and liberties of all people, including the unborn,” said Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, who also co-sponsored HB 70. “Our state benefits when we take up the charge to defend the value of every life, no matter how old. Precious Feet Friday is a small way to show that commitment.”