"Reckless Acts"

Utah's State Legislature has done it again (proved to be unenlightened Neanderthals that is). They have just passed a law that will allow charges to be filed against women who arrange for illegal abortions. That sounds good, right?

It's not though. The law's terminology says that a woman can be punished for "intentional, knowing, or reckless acts" leading to a pregnancy's illegal termination. The law was put through in response to a case where a woman who paid a man to beat her up and cause her to miscarry was not able to be charged. Do I think she should have been charged? Yes. Do I think the word "reckless" could lead to major problems? Yes.

An example from the article is about domestic abuse victims. Democrats fear that women who are beaten to the point of losing their child could end up being charged if they tell their story. One thing I worry about is women who choose to have home births (even more so with women who choose to have unassisted home births). If I chose to have a home birth for my next child, and the baby ends up being stillborn, with the wording of the law as it is I could be charged. The ACLU also gives an example of a woman who fails to wear her seatbelt and then gets into an accident causing a miscarriage.

Maybe I'm being overdramatic, but I am so against the word "reckless" being a part of this law. The Democrats tried to have it removed because of the potential problems with domestic abuse victims, but when do Democrats get their way in Utah? (Not very often.) It leaves it too vague and open to interpretation. Ultimately, I agree with the conclusion the ACLU came to:

Practically speaking however, this bill changes the presumption that abortions obtained in this state are legal. If this bill is signed into law, women in this state will essentially be in the uncomfortable and unfortunate position of having to prove that abortions they obtain (or miscarriages that they suffer) are not unlawful.

I don't have much faith that Gov. Herbert will do anything about this before signing the bill into law, but I'm still going to write to him to let my voice be heard.