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Wyoming House passes new pro-life bill as fate of pre-Dobbs trigger law hangs in the balance – LifeSite

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (LifeSiteNews) – The Wyoming state House passed new abortion legislation designed to replace a preexisting trigger law with the caveat that the law would go into effect five days after the governor certifies the state Supreme Court’s potential overturning of a previous trigger law.

The Life is a Human Right Act, sponsored by Republican state Representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, does not allow babies to be killed because they were conceived in rape or incest, and allows the state attorney general and district attorneys to sue abortionists. The bill passed with a 46-16 vote in the Republican-controlled House with an amendment that introduced the caveat for its taking effect.

Critics of the Life is a Human Right Act argue that the legislation has unconstitutional provisions, such as allowing the state legislature to interpret laws in conjunction with the judiciary, and a provision that allows individual state legislators to defend state laws in court.

Some in the state House, voicing their constitutional concerns, worried that the new legislation, if found unconstitutional, would have left no abortion ban in place, the Laramie Boomerang reported.

Republican Barry Crago, believing that the state’s previous trigger law would be upheld by the state Supreme Court and weary of the legislation’s constitutionality, introduced the caveat amendment during debate. Speaking about the amendment, Crago said “I think it’s kind of a compromise in between the two positions that are being put forth on this floor.”

Rodriguez-Williams criticized the amendment, saying that it was “detrimental” to the bill and that it was “unfriendly to the pro-life movement.” She also stated that supporters of the bill do not think that it would be subject to a preliminary injunction.

“[The amendment] eliminates the whole purpose of the bill. It ensures that abortions continue in Wyoming for the next two years while the highest court of this state gets to the matter. All this time the preliminary injunction allowing for abortions will continue,” she added.

Crago responded to criticism by noting, “I appreciate that the sponsors on this bill have consulted their attorneys over and over and over again. But if those lawyers told the sponsor that the passage of this bill will not result in an immediate injunction, you need a new lawyer. I’ve consulted my lawyers. They’re all on this amendment.”

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The FBI is planning to intensify its “assessment” and “mitigation” of “Radical Traditionalist Catholics” over the next 12 to 24 months according to an explosive document from a former agent turned whistleblower.

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The bombshell 8-page memo was released by former FBI agent Kyle Serpahin on his website UncoveredDC Wednesday. The report, written by an FBI analyst in Richmond, Virginia, was published for internal agency use only on January 23, is titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

Seraphin describes the briefing as an “intelligence product” that, though not being exhaustive, can be used as an initial reference point for the agency to “prop up” future investigations on the subject. He says he obtained the document from an anonymous Baptist employee for the agency.

“This is the first FBI Richmond domain product to focus on the interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists in the Radical Traditional Catholic movement,” the document states. “A search of FBI databases indicates this is also the first FBI finished intelligence product to specifically address this environmental variable.”

SIGN: Politically-motivated witch-hunts of faithful Catholics cannot be allowed in a civilized society

Among the most controversial aspects of the memo is that it directly cites a defamatory study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on the subject “Radical Traditional Catholicism.” The SPLC has long been rejected as a legitimate resource for the FBI, Seraphin says, but in this instance, it is being relied on as a primary source to justify its efforts. The memo also references three anti-Catholic smear articles (herehere, and here) published by leftwing websites Salon and The Atlantic to defend its monitoring.

The report alleges that its real motivation is a concern that “Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” possesses an “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and white supremacy” outlook, and that this presents a threat to the US’s domestic well-being. The report further claims that adherents to RTC ideology “frequently share language and symbolism, such as crusader references or anti-Semitic discourses” online that pro-life white nationalists also support.

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FBI whistleblower releases docs showing agents are surveilling “Radical” Traditional Catholics in Virginia

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“I heard the previous speaker talk about, ‘It’s unfriendly, this amendment is unfriendly to the pro-life movement,’” Crago continued. “I’ll tell you what’s unfriendly to the pro-life movement: prolonging the litigation longer than we have to, waiting and waiting, just waiting for another answer years down the road.”

The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.

Last March, Wyoming Republican Governor Mark Gordon signed the state’s trigger law that would have banned most abortions in the state pending the reversal of Roe v. Wade. A court blocked the law from going into effect in July at the request of abortionists. A trial date for the trigger ban has been set in December, after which it could be appealed in the state Supreme Court.

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