Strict Abortion Law Clarified by Utah Legislature

The Utah Legislature voted Thursday to clarify the nation’s strictest abortion law and remove doubt that women and doctors could be charged with murder over abortions.

The Senate voted 22 to 6 and the House 60 to 12 in favor of legislation that would revise elements of the abortion law and parts of a related criminal homicide statute.

The Legislature enacted the law on Jan. 25 during its general session. Critics later spotted an amendment to a 1983 state statute that said a person who caused the death of an unborn child could face homicide charges, but it excluded instances of legal abortion.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the statute implied that a woman and her doctor could be charged with murder, even capital homicide, for participating in an illegal abortion.

State attorneys countered that no prosecutor could prove the criminal intent necessary for a death penalty conviction, but legislators decided to amend the statute to settle the matter.

The revised legislation, if signed by Gov. Norman H. Bangerter, also would broaden the abortion law’s incest definition and emphasize that a woman who obtains an illegal abortion would not be open to criminal charges. The law would allow abortions only in some cases of rape or incest, if the life or health of the mother were gravely imperiled or if the fetus were gravely defective.