The state of Utah has done some ridiculous things as of late. It has considered eliminating the 12th grade in a desperate bid to save state money and it has also proposed celebrating noted gun manufacturer John Browning—on the same day as noted pacifist Martin Luther King, Jr. Considering this legacy, I was very concerned about the possibility of the Utah legislature actually passing the latest piece of insanity proposed in their legislature—the “criminalized miscarriage” bill. I was optimistic when the bill was rescinded for “revision” after its initial passing. However, the bill we are left with is much the same as the original.
The bill, according to its introduction, “describes the difference between abortion and criminal homicide of an unborn child,” and “removes prohibitions against prosecution of a woman for killing an unborn child or committing criminal homicide of an unborn child.” In short, the bill sought to criminalize “illegal” miscarriage, as well as “reckless” behavior by pregnant women which might result in miscarriage.
On the surface, this bill was introduced as a response to a 2009 incident in which a seventeen year old Utahan girl paid a man $150 to beat her until he induced miscarriage. The attempt failed, and the man was sentenced to prison time. Under the newly-passed bill, the girl also would be sentenced, for her attempt to induce miscarriage. This may seem like a good thing when viewed through a purely emotional lens, considering the horror of these sorts of situations. However, consider this: As of 2005, there were a total of six abortion providers located in Utah. They are located in only two counties. 93% of Utah counties have no abortion provider, and 55% of Utahan women live in these counties, meaning they would have to go through ridiculous difficulties to procure an abortion.
In addition, low-income women are more or less dependent on Medicaid or Medicare for their health insurance—which does not cover abortion in most states.
For some women, traveling to one of the two counties that are home to an abortion provider is simply not an option, and paying for it themselves is even further out of their reach. Yet these women are supposedly guaranteed the right to procure an abortion, thanks to Roe vs. Wade. So what are they supposed to do?
Obviously, the safest place to obtain an abortion is from a licensed abortion provider. Unfortunately, since Utah has been so insistent on not allowing many women access to these providers, many have been forced to look to other options—midwives may prescribe certain herbs to induce miscarriage, for example, and many cultures have traditionally-prescribed remedies for inducing miscarriage as well.
These are not the ideal solutions—but they are all that some women have. And now the Utah state legislature has decided that even these routes are no longer available to desperate women. Let us not kid ourselves here. This bill has very little to do with protecting women or their fetuses. This bill is about punishing women who need to use their perfectly legal right to end their pregnancy—especially poor women. I would feel differently if abortion were more widely available in the state, although I still wouldn’t agree with the idea. However, we are talking about a state in which 55% of women have essentially no abortion access, and those who do have access have no way to pay for the procedure. This is an attack against women, and it is ridiculous and insulting. I am glad the bill was revoked the first time, but all that was changed was the removal of the clause that prohibited “reckless behavior” by a pregnant woman. Women can still be arrested and charged for procuring a “non-medical” abortion, and that is the major problem with this bill. I am concerned about the precedent that this sets for the rest of the nation.
Related posts:
- The controversies of abortion: a scientific perspective
- Abortion Ban Threatens Women’s Struggle for Choice
- Mull it over: “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”
- Stupak-Pitts Amendment prevents insurance coverage of abortion
- Parsing the Pence Amendment: How the bill undermines women’s rights, abortion aside
