Abortion bills unveiled in the Utah State Legislature and they’re already facing threats of lawsuits

January 23, 2019 Utah Channel 3

SALT LAKE CITY — A pair of abortion bills have been unveiled in the Utah State Legislature that are drawing threats of lawsuits.

According to a report from Fox13Now, the Abortion Amendments bill, designated HB 136 in the 2019 Utah Legislature and sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, would ban abortions after 15 weeks.

“We continue to pretend abortion is a harmless, victimless procedure that empowers and liberates women,” Acton told Fox13Now. “Women are in fact often its victims along with, of course, the unborn children.”

At a news conference on Wednesday, Rep. Acton insisted her bill preserved a woman’s right to choose and allowed for Utah’s existing exemptions to an abortion: rape and incest, and health of mother or child.

“It may be considered something of a compromise,” she said.

Her bill has drawn praise from anti-abortion activists, but is assured to face a legal challenge. House Democrats on Wednesday released a legal analysis requested that found the legislature’s own attorneys found a high likelihood it would be found unconstitutional.

HB 136 is not the only abortion bill being run on Utah’s Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, filed HB 166, the proposed Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Abortion Act, which would ban abortion in cases where the child would have Down Syndrome.

“Neither Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey anticipated that abortion law would be used as a means of eugenics and discrimination,” Rep. Lisonbee said in a text message to Fox13Now. “It seems Roe has eroded into the justification for the mass extermination of an entire class of people with a genetic condition known as Down Syndrome. That kind of discrimination must end.”

A similar bill failed to pass the legislature last year after heated debate. Rep. Lisonbee said the latest version would include a “contingency date.”

Read the full story here: Fox13Now.com.

Written by BEN WINSLOW, Fox13Now.com

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