Utah Supreme Court: Teenager who paid for assault in hope of abortion liable

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a Vernal teenager who paid a man to punch her in the abdomen in an attempt to terminate her pregnancy was not seeking an abortion and should face criminal charges. 

The state's high court also deemed that the Vernal man who was paid by the teenager to level the assault should be sentenced to the crime to which the man had pleaded guilty.

The woman, who was 17 years old and seven months pregnant at the time, asked Arron Harrison, 23, to help her terminate her pregnancy for $150 after she was turned away for an abortion because her pregnancy was too far along. Harrison agreed and took the woman to his home where he punched her numerous times in the abdomen.

The teen ultimately gave birth to a healthy baby, who was permanently removed from her custody by the state.

A juvenile court judge dismissed charges against the teen and a district court judge sentenced Harrison on a lesser charge, dismissing an attempted murder charge.

The Utah Supreme Court issued two rulings in the related cases Tuesday. The first determined that the teenager who was carrying the child was not attempting to secure an abortion as 8th District Juvenile Court Judge Larry Steele had determined.

"We hold that the solicited assault of a woman to terminate her pregnancy is not a 'procedure,' as contemplated by statute, and therefore does not constitute an abortion," Chief Justice Christine Durham wrote. "Accordingly, we reverse the juvenile court’s order dismissing the state’s petition and remand for further proceedings."

The teenager had been charged in juvenile court with criminal solicitation to commit murder, but the charge was dismissed after Steele deemed that the Utah code defining abortion is "unambiguous" when it states, "a woman who is seeking to have or obtains an abortion for herself is not criminally liable."

He said in his ruling that while the girl's actions were "shocking and crude," they were, nonetheless, legal under the state's current definition of abortion.

In appealing the case, attorneys for the state told the Utah Supreme Court that the law refers to a medical abortion procedure and that a beating did not amount to a procedure, which was confirmed by Durham.