Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (for Women's Rights)

There are action alerts from groups far and wide winging their way around the state tonight.

Tomorrow, there will be even more.

Curious why the onslaught and intensity?

There is a lot that has to happen and time is tight. On Friday, we saw dozens of bills die because they didn't make it out of committee by the February 1st deadline. Monday is the next deadline: Anything that doesn't get through first reading on Monday in its chamber of origin is dead. Here's the list of what the House has on General File. They will have to work through all 68 of those bills if they want to save everything. (They've been averaging well under 20/day. Friday they got through 11.) One of those bills is HB244 Medicaid - work requirements and expansion which we guarantee will be a barn burner.

Between now and then, we want to highlight the bills that are front of mind. And we need your help.

Medicaid Expansion is on Monday's (gigantic) General File list in the House. We want to see it come to the House Floor for substantive debate and a vote! Please reach out to your local Representatives and Majority Floor Leader Barlow to let them know how important Medicaid Expansion is for Wyoming. (Women in Wyoming stand to benefit disproportionately if the state expands Medicaid. And we are all for supporting the health and economic security of women across the state.) Ask your Reps to bring HB0244 Medicaid - work requirement and expansion to the floor for a vote!

Did you know that in Wyoming a rapist can claim parental rights if a child is born as a result of the rape? The Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault shared this:

If you didn't notice, HB0107, terminating the parental rights of rapists, was not heard on General File Friday. Comments we heard from floor leaders: "We couldn't add that on a day where we had to debate the 48-hour waiting period for abortions AND the death penalty," and, "It's up to the Representatives to make sure we know their priorities."

Join us Monday morning at 8 am at the Jonah Building in Cheyenne and lobby. Yep, that's right. Don't need to register as a lobbyist, just come on down as a private citizen and help us pull ALL the Representatives off the floor and get HB0107 heard. We have the votes IF WE CAN GET IT TO THE FLOOR!

Here are the talking points and a summary of Aimee Kidd's testimony. Let's do this for Aimee. Let's do this for all rape survivors who had to face a pregnancy.

Three abortion bills are still being worked in the Legislature. We need your help with two:

• SF0128 would establish fetal personhood in Wyoming statute and endow a fertilized egg with full rights under the law. This bill is on General File in the Senate. Please let your Senator know that you do not support this governmental overreach when enhanced criminal penalties already exist in statute.

• HB0103 Abortion - reporting requirements, would duplicate existing law and send the message that the state feels the need to police doctors. At a time when Wyoming is already challenged to attract medical providers, medical professionals have expressed concern. The Wyoming Hospital Association testified against this bill in committee. We would like to make sure that it does not come to the floor on Monday.

The gender wage gap bills that you helped us get out of committee and pass through the House have made their way to the Senate. They were referred to - wait for it - Transportation, Highways, & Military Affairs. Why? Perhaps they want these bills to die so they sent them to an incompatible committee? Who's to say? What we need you to know is that both HB0071 Equal pay - penalties and HB0084 Wage equality - state employees and programs need your help. Please contact all five members of Senate Transportation - and your Senator - and let them know that you support wage equality in the Equality State.

We will send out our own Action Alert tomorrow with a recap of Week 4 and a preview of Week 5. Until then, we hope that you might join us in using your Saturday night to fight for women's rights! With your help, we can ensure the Equality State lives up to its name.