CHEYENNE - Two of the most emotional issues in politics are set to hit the Wyoming Legislature this week: abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday narrowly endorsed a bill titled, "Women's right to know." It would require doctors who perform abortions in the state to inform their patients beforehand of alternatives and warn them of potential risks and side effects.

Supporters of the measure say they want to protect women from physical and psychological problems they say have been associated with abortion. But abortion rights groups say they view the bill as part of an effort to ban the procedure in the state.

The bill will likely be debated on the House floor some time this week, House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper, said Friday.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday endorsed a bill that would specify Wyoming won't recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said Friday he expects debate on the marriage bill will be lively. "It will be controversial, that's a controversial bill," he said.

Both the abortion and same-sex marriage issues promise to draw lobbyists and concerned citizens to the Capitol.

Rep. Bob Brechtel, R-Casper, sponsor of the abortion bill, said he's not trying to erode abortion rights.

"My only intention is to help them avoid injury and long-term regrets. It has nothing to do with stopping abortion," he said.

John Birbari, of Lander, who is president of the Wyoming Family Coalition, said his group strongly supports Brechtel's legislation.

"Anytime you undergo a surgical procedure, there should be full disclosure about what the risks are and what you can expect," Birbari said. "That's true with just about every surgical procedure, except for abortion.

"We know for a fact that women who have had abortions have not been fully informed about the risks, both surgical and psychological," Birbari said. "And this bill will give them the information they need to make an informed decision."

Sharon Breitweiser, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming, an abortion-rights group headquartered in Laramie, said her group intends to rally members to fight Brechtel's bill.

"We're stunned that the majority of the House Judiciary Committee ignored the testimony of doctors, lawyers, health care professionals and reproductive rights advocates," Breitweiser said Friday.

"We believe that it's not the government's business," she said. "The majority of people in this state do not want government intrusion into their personal lives, and the proponents of this bill are the same people who want to outlaw abortion."

Whatever the motivation behind the abortion legislation, Cohee said it promises to take a lot of time in the House this week.

"The problem with a bill like that is we have, right now, some 50, 60 bills on general file," Cohee said. "And discussion of a bill like that can consume massive amounts of time. It eliminates the opportunity to hear the bills that have been brought forth in the Legislature by many other people. We can spend time on one bill or we can spend time on consideration of 10 or 12 more."

Sen. Gerald Geis, R-Worland, sponsored the same-sex marriage bill.

"The bill simply says we would not have to honor same-sex marriages in Wyoming that were authorized in some other state," Geis told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.

Massachusetts is the only state that currently grants marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Several other states recognize same-sex civil unions.

Birbari of the Wyoming Family Coalition said his group also supports Geis' bill.

"The social mores of Massachusetts aren't the same as ours," Birbari said. "We're pretty conservative folks out here. We believe that marriage is defined in the Bible as between a man and a woman, and we believe it ought to stay that way."

Bob Spencer, a retired hospital chaplain in Cheyenne, is spokesman for Wyoming Equality, a group that he said works on gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual issues in the state.

"I'm quite disappointed that it came out of the committee," Spencer said of Geis' bill. "I felt like it was as much political move as anything else - not based on a lot of necessity, very political."

Spencer said he's not aware of any married, same-sex couples from elsewhere that have asked Wyoming to recognize their marriages.

David Buckel, national marriage project director for Lambda Legal in New York City, said Friday that the legislation could hurt Wyoming's tourism industry.

"We have a lot of skiers," Buckel said. "And we have a lot of folks who like to put the kids in the station wagon and show them Yellowstone." Yet Buckel said that although he deals with same-sex couples around the country, he hasn't heard of any talking about wanting to pack up and move to the Cowboy State.

"That's why it's kind of confusing when you get a state like Wyoming fretting about any kind of flooding into the state," Buckel said. "That will be the reverse, they'll see fewer people in the summertime. It doesn't strike me as a state that hates, so I don't know why they would want to be turning people away there."

The same-sex marriage bill is Senate File 13; the abortion information bill is House Bill 144.