Wyoming governor signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion ban into law
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon testifies during the House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill into law on Monday banning abortion in the state after a “fetal heartbeat” has been detected.
HB 126, or the Human Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion once cardiac activity is identified, which is around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
If cardiac activity is detected, an abortion can only be performed in the case of a medical emergency, meaning if the life of the mother is in danger or if continuing the pregnancy would cause serious or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, according to the bill.
The bill does not include exceptions for pregnancies as a result of rape or incest.
Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the act will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, according to the bill.
“Today I signed the Human Heartbeat Act into law, reaffirming my view that life is sacred. I resoundingly share the determination to defend the lives of unborn children and support the intentions behind the Human Heartbeat Act,” Gordon wrote in a post on X on Monday.
Previously, abortion was allowed in Wyoming until fetal viability, which occurs between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation.
Wyoming is now the fifth state at least to have a “heartbeat ban” following bans enacted in Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina.
“This ban is an attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decisions, and it puts the health and well-being of our communities at risk,” Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, said in a statement.
“Every day that this law is in effect means people in our state will face even greater barriers to abortion care — and some may be denied this care altogether,” the statement continued. “With so many across Wyoming already struggling to access reproductive health care, restrictive policies like these take us further in the wrong direction.”
Burkhart said Wellspring Health Access is prepared to challenge the ban in court and will continue to work with regional and national partners to help patients access the care they need.
Gordon wrote in the post on X that he was concerned the bill was “well-intentioned” but would lead to a “fragile legal effort with significant risk of ending in the courts rather than in lasting, durable policy.”
Gordon suggested that voters should decide on the issue and that a question be placed on a ballot asking if an abortion ban should be cemented in the state constitution.
(NEW YORK) — Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly changed the childhood immunization schedule, reducing the number of recommended shots for all children from 18 down to only 11.
According to the new schedule, shots will now be categorized in three groups: those recommended for all children, those recommended for only certain high-risk children and others left up to shared clinical decision making, meaning only given if recommended by an individual’s doctor or based on parental preference.
Some pediatricians told ABC News that this decision will only cause more confusion and fuel a growing trend of vaccine skepticism and refusal amid a rise in some vaccine-preventable illnesses around the U.S.
Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician at the Pediatric Clinic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, told ABC News that removing seven shots from the schedule recommended for all kids is “reckless” and confusing.
This isn’t the first change to vaccine recommendations that has been made in the past year by the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In 2025, guidance for vaccinating healthy children against COVID-19 was reversed and the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine was eliminated. Kennedy also fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and handpicked their replacements, and has been criticized.
“Pediatricians are already facing families who are confused about vaccine recommendations. This confusion is intentional and meant to weaken vaccination rates in the US and sow seeds of doubt and division,” Henderson said.
Under the updated schedule, only seven vaccines are recommended based on shared clinical decision making between a doctor and parent and are no longer universally recommended for all children.
These include shots that protect against influenza, COVID-19, rotavirus and some types of bacterial meningitis and viral hepatitis. All of these vaccine-preventable illnesses can lead to severe infections or death and have limited to no treatment options.
“These latest changes will undoubtedly shake confidence in vaccines even further, to the detriment of the children we care for,” Dr. Molly O’Shea, a practicing pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told ABC News.
O’Shea said that, in her practice, she’s had to navigate more vaccine skepticism and refusal over the past year, but wants parents to know that the science on effectiveness and safety hasn’t shifted “even though the recommended vaccine schedule has shifted.”
She continued, “The reason for that shift has nothing to do with whether or not vaccines are safe and effective and all children benefit from avoiding illness and being healthy, to attend school and be a part of the community.”
To address growing concerns about vaccines, O’Shea said the pediatric offices she works in have had to change their workflow to allow more time for discussions about vaccines and to address vaccine misinformation.
While happy to have these conversations with families, O’Shea said reserving time for these additional visits for vaccine counseling becomes more difficult during flu season, when more kids need to be seen due to illnesses.
She added that the offices have already had to scale back ordering some vaccines in bulk because uptake has decreased for some shots.
Henderson and O’Shea both reaffirmed that vaccines are safe — far safer than the dangerous illnesses they prevent.
“Over the last 30 years, I have hospitalized hundreds of children with complications from influenza, RSV, rotavirus and other vaccine-preventable diseases that have now been removed from the CDC schedule,” Henderson said. “I have never hospitalized a child from a vaccine reaction. Vaccines are safe and effective and protect our most vulnerable patients … our babies and children.”
“Vaccines are the safest way for a child’s immune system to become familiar with any of these illnesses, way safer than the disease itself,” O’Shea added.
Doctors are also concerned that the vaccination schedule updates may have secondary impacts, including how often children and families see their pediatrician.
Pediatric wellness checks include recommended vaccines, particularly in young childhood, but pediatricians say that there’s more to those visits than shots alone. Skipping visits could miss critical windows of a child’s growth, development, and recommended screenings.
“Absent vaccine, kids are really going to miss out on important other screening aspects of the wellness visits if their parents are opting out,” O’Shea said.
Pediatricians continue to urge parents to talk to their own child’s doctor and to trust their medical guidance.
“Your pediatrician really is your trusted source of information, and we have nothing to gain in the way things are going here,” O’Shea said.
“Vaccines are certainly not a way in which we make any money,” she went on. “But [a] pediatrician’s goal is to partner with parents to make the right decision for your child, and so, bringing your concerns and questions to your pediatrician is the best way to get quality information.”
Amid the shrinking childhood vaccine schedule, many vaccine-preventable illnesses remain common in the U.S. and other diseases, such as measles and whooping cough, are increasing.
Last year, the U.S. saw more measles cases than at any other time in the last 30 years and three people died from the disease. Two children died from whooping cough during an outbreak in Louisiana and more kids died from influenza than in any other year on record since it became a reportable illness in 2004.
(NEW YORK) — Flu activity could continue to increase in the U.S. over the next few weeks, according to a top flu epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There’s a lot of influenza out there right now,” Dr. Carrie Reed, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch of the CDC’s influenza division, told ABC News.
“We often see activity continue into the spring … I think the reality is that it’s going to continue to be elevated for a little bit longer,” she continued.
The CDC’s latest estimates indicate that there have been at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from flu so far this season.
“That’s likely a low estimate based on the data that we’re seeing so far,” Reed said, adding that the federal health agency typically publishes the lower range of the estimates.
A new variant that first emerged in the summer, known as subclade K, has become the dominant strain, CDC data shows. Subclade K is a variant of the H3N2 virus, which is itself a subtype of influenza A.
Of the 994 flu samples tested since Sept. 30, nearly all were influenza A. Of those samples that underwent further testing roughly 90% were H3N2, CDC data shows.
“Subclade K has acquired some mutations in the virus that make it a little bit different than what’s in the vaccine and what was circulating over the last couple years,” Reed said.
Public health experts currently recommend that everyone ages 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, get an annual flu vaccine.
Although the current flu vaccine is not a perfect match to subclade K, it is still expected to offer some protection against the new variant and lower the risk of serious disease, hospitalization and death.
Reed added that the new variant does not appear to be driving more severe illness yet.
“There are still benefits to vaccine, even if the virus [has] somewhat drifted from what’s in the vaccine,” she said. “We haven’t seen increases in hospitalization and mortality yet in the ways that we have with [doctors’ visits], although that’s something that we continue to watch for as well.”
For those who have gotten sick, there are medicines available, known as antivirals, that may help reduce the severity and length of illness.
Reed said for those who contract the flu and have a higher risk of severe disease, they should seek care early and speak with their doctor about receiving a prescription for flu antivirals.
She explained that flu antivirals have been found to reduce the duration of illness as well as lower the risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death.
Health officials have stressed that it is not too late for people get a flu shot if they haven’t received one yet.
“There’s still time to get a flu vaccine,” Reed said. “It does take a couple weeks for your immune response to pick up after vaccination, but that does mean there’s many more weeks of flu activity to benefit from the protection of an influenza vaccine.”
Stock photo of a sick child. (Natalia Lebedinskaia/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York is reporting the highest number of flu hospitalizations recorded in a single week, the state’s health department said on Friday.
During the week ending Dec. 27, 4,546 people were hospitalized with flu, a 24% increase from the 3,666 who were hospitalized the previous week, according to data from the New York State Department of Health (NYSOH)
It comes after the state reported a record-breaking number of flu cases in a single week with 72,133 infections during the week ending Dec. 20.
NYSDOH issued a declaration last month stating influenza is prevalent in New York, which requires health care facilities and agencies to ensure any staff who have not received this year’s flu vaccine wear masks in any areas where patients and residents may be present.
“We are having a more severe flu season than prior years, almost 1,000 more people were admitted to a hospital during this most recent seven-day period compared to the prior week,” Dr. James McDonald, the state’s health commissioner, said in a statement on Friday.
Meanwhile, flu activity is also spiking nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there have been at least 7.5 million illnesses, 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from flu so far this season.
New York is one of 20 states recording “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity, according to the latest CDC data.
Public health experts previously told ABC News that many of this season’s cases are linked to a new flu strain called subclade K — a variant of the H3N2 virus, which is itself a subtype of influenza A.
Subclade K has been circulating since the summer in other countries and was a main driver of a spike in flu cases in Canada, Japan and the U.K.
Of the 1,600 flu samples tested by the CDC, roughly 92% were H3N2. Of those samples, nearly 90% belonged to subclade K.
Experts expect flu-like illnesses to continue to climb in the coming weeks after holiday gatherings and colder weather.
Currently, the CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, get a flu vaccine.
The federal health agency states on its website that getting an annual flu shot prevents millions of illnesses and flu-related doctors’ visits every year and is especially important for those at higher risk of serious complications.
The flu vaccine is currently available to New Yorkers aged 2 years and older at a health care provider’s office or at participating pharmacies while children aged 6 months and older can receive the flu vaccine at a health care provider’s office, according to the state health department.
“There is still time to get a flu shot and remember, flu can be treated with antiviral medication if started within 48 hours of symptom onset and your doctor deems appropriate,” McDonald said.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
