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Utah’s Abortion Law Revisions
Representative Paul Ray
House of Representatives, District 13
I have started receiving calls on a bill file I opened back in June, entitled Abortion Law Revisions. I would like to share it with you and receive feedback.
The Abortion Law Revisions bill is a trigger law to ban abortions in Utah if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the United States Supreme Court. The language will simply state that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the provisions of this bill will immediately be in effect and will supersede conflicting provisions of the Utah Code. It will further provide that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, no person may perform an abortion unless it is necessary in order to avert a woman’s death or to avert a serious risk to a woman of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, or the woman is pregnant as the result of incest or rape that is reported to law enforcement before the abortion is performed. It also addresses the confidentiality of the name of a victim of incest or rape.
The reason for this bill is simple: abortion is wrong. Last session, South Dakota passed a complete ban on abortion. This will be the first test on abortion with the new and current make up of the United States Supreme Court. I believe it is imperative that we show our support for pro-life legislation. We need to show solidarity as state legislatures and stand firm with South Dakota. While South Dakota was the first to pass a law to ban abortions, other states have introduced similar legislation, including Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.
The language in the Abortion Law Revisions bill does not put Utah in the middle of a legal battle that would cost tax payer money. It does however show that we support the steps taken by South Dakota and that we do not support abortion. North Dakota passed similar legislation two years ago and Louisiana passed it this year. In my discussions with other legislators across the country, Utah is among many states discussing this type of legislation in the upcoming session.
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Comments
Eris
This bill is anything but palatable.
Why not start at the root of the problem and draft legislation that gives people greater access to contraceptives (instead of locked behind a counter)? Or even better, require insurance companies to cover birth control. Wouldn’t this cut down on all those unwanted pregnancies.
And finally, when you draft a bill that removes a man’s right to refuse a paternity test and puts in real prison time for dead-beat dads then I might get on board.
Until society starts holding men as responsible as women for unwanted pregnancies, you have NO RIGHT to tell me what I can or should do when faced with this impossible situation.
Anonymous
Two comments:
1. It requires 2 to create a fetus. One half is bullied, scolded and villified. The other is left to go on having irresponsible sex. As part of this bill, we could require all males to have DNA typing, so the other half could be definitely identified. It’s already too late when the question of abortion even arises.
2. One of the founding principles of this nation has been separation of Religion and Government. I say that Abortion is NOT always wrong. It is not wrong to many of us, because we are not total materialists who believe that human life is define solely by joining of egg and sperm. Human life – as opposed to living cellular matter – involves spirit and conscience in some fashion.
I realize that people of good conscience differ on where the lines are drawn. Thank you for offering a public forum for comments.
Anonymous
The bill’s exception clause makes me wonder why anyone would object. Aren’t those the exceptions pro-choicers always use in defending abortion?
My point is that, YES, with those exceptions this should be a palatable bill for all.
Good job.