Wyo. Gubernatorial Candidate Hunkins will seek abortion ban if Roe overturned, mandate 25-year sentences for assaults on pregnant woman

Wyoming gubernatorial candidate Ray Hunkins (R) on Wednesday said he anticipates the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn its ruling in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case -- which effectively barred state abortion bans -- adding that if such a ruling is made, he will seek to ban abortions in the state except in cases protecting the health of pregnant women, the AP/Casper Star Tribune reports.

"I believe that abortion is murder, the homicide of a human being," Hunkins said, adding that he would call for a reinstatement of Wyoming's ban on abortion prior to 1973. Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D), who is running for re-election, said he does not support changes to the state's abortion-rights laws.

According to the AP/Tribune, voters in 1994 rejected a state referendum that would have banned abortions in most cases (Neary, AP/Casper Star Tribune, 10/18).

Hunkins also said he will call for legislation that would mandate a prison sentence of at least 25 years for a person who knowingly assaults a pregnant woman and causes the involuntary loss of her fetus, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reports.

"The deliberate killing of an unborn child by battery on the pregnant woman should be considered homicide," Hunkins said.

Freudenthal said current law mandates a prison sentence of up to 10 years for such convictions, adding, "It may be entirely appropriate to increase the penalty and make it a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years" (Wingert, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 10/18).