Panel OKs ban on state-funded abortions

A House committee voted along political party lines Thursday in favor of a Senate bill that would ban "directly and indirectly" state taxpayer funds paying for abortions.

Despite concerns about lawsuits, hospitals and clinics losing millions of dollars in Medicaid funds and fuzzy legal definitions contained in the bill, the House Health and Human Services Committee members voted 6-3 "to error on the side of unborn children," as Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, put it.

Democratic committee members voted against SB68, Republicans voted for it.

The bill by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, now goes before the whole House.

SB68 is one of a pair of anti-abortion bills Bramble is sponsoring that have resulted in emotional debates, with both the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood warning Utah could end up in court over the measures. His partial-birth abortion banning bill has likewise passed the Senate and will be heard soon in the House.

Bramble and other Republicans said the state simply shouldn't be spending taxpayer money on abortions, a procedure that most Utahns oppose, public opinion surveys show. "We can not overturn Roe v. Wade (the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion). If I could, I would. But we can do this," Bramble said.

However, by including in his bill that a future Legislature "may" deny state funds to any organization that uses "directly or indirectly" state funds for abortions could put at risk any number of programs, including the University of Utah Medical Center, opponents said.

"We don't know what 'indirectly' means," said Kim Wirthlin of the U.

"But we want 'indirect' there because we want a broad definition" and a clear message sent that no state taxpayer funds will be used for abortions in any way, Bramble said.

And it's possible, said Bramble, that an organization could lose state funds if it conducted privately funded abortions, even if its state funds didn't directly pay for an abortion.

Likewise, said Bramble, a clinic or hospital could lose all of its Medicaid matching funds if it uses state funds for just a few abortions.

Officials from the state's own employee health-care plan have told Bramble that if his bill passes it would no longer cover elective abortions, fearing the loss of state business.