Legislators ready for abortion fight

Lawmakers who want to make abortion a homicide are setting aside proposed legislation, but not their resolve to stop what one calls "the slaughter of innocents."

"The slaughter continues, and so does our commitment to stop it," Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman said. "We'll keep stepping up and standing up for the unborn and against those who get rid of them as a matter of convenience and want abortion on demand."

Wimmer, Reps. Ken Sumsion, American Fork, and Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, have filed or are endorsing a set of bills that would make "criminal homicide abortion" a second-degree felony, would require doctors to notify a pregnant woman if an abortion is painful to the fetus and that the procedure would end a human life. They also want the physical abuse of a pregnant woman that results in a miscarriage to be a felony.

"The fact is that no matter the proposed legislation or the approach it takes, people in Utah want to put a wholesale stop on abortion," said Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, in announcing the defense fund this past October. "Lawmakers are in effect ignoring what their constituents want. This is the critical thing we keep ignoring by ignoring this."

Lawmakers aren't ignoring the issue by any means going into the 2009 session, he said, they will be emphasizing an approach they believe keeps the horse in front of the cart — setting up a legal defense fund that they predict will be necessary to pay for the court fight that will ensue when — not if — the state adopts what would be the toughest anti-abortion legislation in the country.

The lawmakers said they are fully aware that they are picking an expensive and drawn-out fight, since opponents have already threatened a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of any ban. Estimates by proponents and opponents alike estimate a price tag of at least $2 million and as much as $12 million.

The three lawmakers said that a private organization has offered to seed the defense, which they plan to keep open for five years. A fund was set up five years ago when a ban on abortions except for pregnancies caused by incest or rape garnered about $15,000, a fraction of the $1 million the state spent defending the ban in court.In 2007, the last time the issue came to full floor debate at the Legislature, a slim majority of Utahns surveyed in a Deseret News/KSL poll said they do not support using millions of state dollars fighting the landmark abortion ruling Roe vs. Wade.

In adopting a new regulation endorsed by now former Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, health care workers may refuse to provide abortion or any treatment they consider morally objectionable. They may also refuse to refer a patient to another medical care provider who does abortions. The so-called "provider conscience" rule was intended to augment existing laws dealing with hospitals that refuse to allow doctors to refuse care, but pro-choice advocates consider it two steps back for women's health care in the United States.

E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com