Legislators to propose more restrictive abortion law

After a lull in their effort to make abortion illegal except in cases of rape, incest or bodily harm to the mother, conservative state lawmakers are drafting legislation to end "the slaughter of innocents" once and for all, even if it means fighting all the way to the Supreme Court.

Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said that just because the abortion battle has been quiet the past year, it by no means has gone away.

"The slaughter continues, and so does our commitment to stop it," he said. "We'll be stepping it up, and we're standing up for the unborn and against those who get rid of them as a matter of convenience and want abortion on demand."

New legislation will reconstitute strategies to not only make abortion illegal with three exceptions, but would require doctors to notify a pregnant woman if an abortion is painful to the fetus, that the procedure they're about to undergo will end a human life and that abuse of a pregnant mother causing her to lose a fetus would be a felony.

Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, who proposed the same steps a year ago in legislation that failed to pass, said ending abortion in Utah had been kind of a piecemeal approach.

"The fact then and the fact now is that no matter the approach, people in Utah want to put a wholesale stop on abortion," Sandstrom said. "Lawmakers are in effect ignoring what their constituents want. This is the critical thing we keep ignoring by ignoring this."

Utah passed a ban on abortion in 1991, but it was not enacted under court orders.

Sandstrom said he realizes he's picking an expensive and drawn-out fight. Estimates by proponents and opponents alike put the price tag anywhere from $3 million to $12 million.

Missy Bird, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Committee, said that's a bill that Utahns don't want.

"Every person I know is against abortions, but as usual, the focus remains on the procedure, not on preventing the pregnancy," Bird said.

That's because it needs to be stopped, now, Sandstrom said. "We have a responsibility to protect and defend life. I take that as much more than political action, it's only right and the moral thing to do."

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com