A Utah anti-abortion bill, which would have made a life sentence available for women who suffered a miscarriage by intention or reckless behavior, was withdrawn March 4 to be revised. Governor Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, has neither vetoed nor signed the bill.
The language of the original bill would have effectively made any woman who suffered a miscarriage a potential suspect. Reproductive rights groups are urging the Governor to veto the bill, saying that it could lead to a ‘witch hunt’ where every miscarriage could lead to police questioning.
The bill was a response to a case of a 17-year-old who sought a miscarriage, and paid a man to beat her. Though she was arrested, she was released when a judge said that seeking an abortion was not a crime.
Legal abortions would not be affected by the bill in either its former or future state, but Utah has laws to discourage abortions, including a parental consent requirement for minors.
How a bill like this could be called into existence is beyond belief. It directly puts the women of Utah into the political arena at a time in their lives when they would value privacy the most. It’s legislature like this that shows how little the privacy of an individual woman matters when political parties are butting heads over moral beliefs, and how hard we have to fight to keep the women of this country safe.
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