CHEYENNE - A bill that would have required doctors who perform abortions in Wyoming to offer their patients a chance to view an ultrasound image of their fetus has failed in committee.

The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted down House Bill 151 by a vote of 6-3 Wednesday evening after more than an hour of frequently emotional testimony from supporters and opponents alike.

Rep. Bob Brechtel, R-Casper and the bill's sponsor, told the committee that showing pregnant women ultrasound images of their fetus would help them decide not to go forward with the procedure. He said he intended the bill to help women, saying they're often emotionally damaged by abortion.

"Abortion has been packaged and marketed as something that women need, and there is a profit motive," Brechtel said.

Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse, was the first person to testify against the bill, her voice rising with emotion as she condemned it.

"I'm going to tell you a couple of things that are none of your damned business, and none of the business of the people that are standing behind my back," Wallis said as she addressed the committee.

Wallis said she's been pregnant five times and has given birth to three children. She said she lost one baby two weeks before it was due to be born and once underwent an abortion, something she said she had never before revealed in public.

Wallis said proceeding with the abortion was the best decision she ever made. She said she has spent time counseling young women and said they already know what the implications of abortion are when they visit a doctor.

"To have the state impose this obligation on them to go through with this unnecessary procedure is an insult to me as a woman, and an insult to me as a United States citizen," Wallis said.

Steven Ertelt, president of Right to Life of Wyoming, said his group strongly supported Brechtel's bill. He said a study conducted by Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs-based evangelical group, has determined that showing pregnant women ultrasound images of their fetuses results in few abortions.

Dr. Rene Hinkle, an obstetrician at the Cheyenne Woman's Clinic, testified against the bill, saying doctors already commonly perform ultrasounds for medical reasons before performing abortions.

"The necessitating by this bill of showing the actual heartbeat, showing the limbs, and those things, only increase the emotional distress that women making this decision feel," Hinkle said.

Committee Chairman Rep. Jack Landon, R-Sheridan, spoke in opposition of the bill before voting against it. He said he was troubled by its assumption that women who choose abortion aren't struggling with the decision and don't already have the information they need.

"I just think that this is a deeply personal decision, and I'm not certain that the state has a role in this," Landon said.

Voting with Landon against the bill were Reps. Dave Bonner, R-Powell; Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne; Patrick Goggles, D-Ethete; Lori Millin, D-Cheyenne; and Lisa Shepperson, R-Casper. Voting for the bill were Reps. Kathy Davison, R-Kemmerer; Timothy Hallinan, R-Gillette; and Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell.

The committee postponed action until Friday on House Bill 154, also sponsored by Brechtel, which would increase the state reporting requirements on doctors who perform abortions.