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SALT LAKE CITY -
A bill that would change whether a certain kind of abortion is considered a homicide passed through the House on Capitol Hill Tuesday and will now make its way to the Senate. House Bill 12, sponsored by Rep. Carl Wimmer, is designed to close a legal loophole allowing charges to be filed against a woman who tries to terminate her pregnancy illegally. The bill stems from a case involving a teen in Uinta County who paid a man $150 to beat her into a miscarriage.
In HB 12, prosecutors would bear the burden of proving two of three criteria: was the illegal abortion intentional, negligent or knowing. A spokeswoman from the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] says the bill has a lot of gray area.
"My concern is about reckless and knowing behavior," says ACLU's Marina Lowe. "I'm concerned about the situation where a woman fails to wear a seatbelt and gets into a car accident. That's a risk not wearing a seatbelt. If in the course of that accident she loses her fetus, is that going to be charged as knowing or reckless behavior?"
The bill's sponsor says the issue is not gender specific. But the Health and Human Services Committee is mostly men and the only senator who voted against it is a woman.
The bill was presented before the Legislative Committee Tuesday morning and passed through the House. The Senate will now discuss and vote on the bill.
And the 17-year-old who tried to miscarry her baby delivered the child. Her baby was put up for adoption.
FOX 13's Hope Woodside has the story.
SEND US YOUR NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS PICTURES! www.fox13now.com/pics
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @fox13now
In HB 12, prosecutors would bear the burden of proving two of three criteria: was the illegal abortion intentional, negligent or knowing. A spokeswoman from the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] says the bill has a lot of gray area.
"My concern is about reckless and knowing behavior," says ACLU's Marina Lowe. "I'm concerned about the situation where a woman fails to wear a seatbelt and gets into a car accident. That's a risk not wearing a seatbelt. If in the course of that accident she loses her fetus, is that going to be charged as knowing or reckless behavior?"
The bill's sponsor says the issue is not gender specific. But the Health and Human Services Committee is mostly men and the only senator who voted against it is a woman.
The bill was presented before the Legislative Committee Tuesday morning and passed through the House. The Senate will now discuss and vote on the bill.
And the 17-year-old who tried to miscarry her baby delivered the child. Her baby was put up for adoption.
FOX 13's Hope Woodside has the story.
SEND US YOUR NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS PICTURES! www.fox13now.com/pics
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @fox13now
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