Utah wants to ban "illegal abortions"

[bluestateguy]

So does a woman who has a "suspicious" miscarriage have to be subjected to an investigation to determine if it was legitimate. The anti-abortion movement is about controlling women and controlling poor people (poor people are easier for governments to control).

http://kcpw.org/blog/local-news/2010-01-27/abortion-bill-clears-committee-unanimously/

KCPW News) Amendments that were made to a bill making it a criminal homicide for a woman to have an illegal abortion have cleared up most of the concerns about it. But at a committee hearing yesterday, questions were raised about it possibly subjecting those who have miscarriages to prosecution. But bill sponsor Representative Carl Wimmer said that would not be the case.

“It’s absurd to think that a woman who has a miscarriage would be charged under the law right now. We know that that probably would not happen, although it technically probably could the way that the criminal homicide law is written,” he said. “My bill doesn’t affect that. My bill does nothing to change that, whatsoever.”

House Bill 12, “Abortion Amendments,” is Wimmer’s response to a case where a Vernal teenager paid a man to beat her so that she would have an abortion. The man was charged for the crime, but she was not. Wimmer’s bill tightens the definition of what an abortion is and removes a legal immunity for women if they intentionally try to have an illegal abortion.

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“Most of the time when a woman miscarries, she has no idea why. And this bill requires her to prove the sole reason it happened,” she said. “And so as we’re moving forward with this piece of legislation, we would respectfully request that the committee and the sponsor look at continuing to ensure that women who want to have their babies and lose their babies to miscarriage will be protected.”

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[The_Commonist]

1. Aren't "illegal abortions" already banned?

I want to ban "illegal wars."

[Warpy]

5. They are. This is just to punish women who miscarry.

While there have been sensationalized cases of young girls being pummeled in the abdomen in order to provoke an abortion, it's clearly already illegal to do so.

No one wants young girls assaulted and possibly damaged for life just to get an abortion. Eliminating roadblocks to legal abortion would do more to stop such horrible practices than some stupid law like this would.

It's the old "what did you do to lose my baby?" patriarchal horseshit again.

[Flaneur]

2. Seems a bit redundant.

[tonysam]

3. This article belongs in the Onion

Of course truth is vastly more strange than fiction.

[fasttense]

4. There is no such thing as illegal abortions.

Abortions are still legal according to the Constitution and the supremes... for now.

[FLDCVADem]

8. Actually some abortions are illegal n/t

[SlingBlade]

6. We Should Ban Utah !

[jgraz]

12. No way -- Utah is gorgeous. Just ban Mor(m)on marriage.

That should take care of all the problems.

[SlingBlade]

18. Well.... Ok, But somebody better get banned :)

[liberalhistorian]

7. Geez Louise, why don't they just mandate

monthly vaginal inspections for all women between 14 and 60 while they're at it? That oughta finally get the perpetual bug out of their asses. :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[secondwind]

9. thanks...I really needed this laugh!

[Kceres]

10. This is a weird story, but when I had my miscarriage at 12 weeks and was hemorrhaging at home...

I remember the male police officer who arrived at the same time as the paramedics asking if the "baby" still had an umbilical cord attached. I had to fish out the intact fetus from the toilet with a soup ladle and put it in a baggie to take to the hospital as the nurse had instructed me to do over the phone when she called the ambulance. I always wondered what the hell difference did it make it had an umbilical cord or not? And why did the cop call a spontaneously aborted fetus a "baby" in front of me? This was a planned and wanted pregnancy and I nearly died. I still don't understand and it still upsets me. Sorry to vent. This post brought it all back.

Edited: typo

[liberalhistorian]

11. Why would there have been a police officer

there along with the paramedics for a routine ambulance call for a miscarriage? Seems to me to be a bit of an overkill.

[Kceres]

13. Don't know but there were two male cops.

The other one was real nice and kept my two-year-old in another room watching "Barney" while the paramedics stabilized me. He also fetched my down the street neighbor to baby-sit until my husband got home.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Wow.

That's horrible and ridiculous.

[gratuitous]

14. Because a miscarriage isn't traumatic enough

Forget the physical and psychological damage, let's stack a criminal investigation on top, just to put the cherry on that shit sundae. Some beady-eyed, woman-hating investigator to ask a bunch of nosy questions. Hopefully, if the woman is in the hospital, they can buttonhole her while she's still in recovery.

I like how that fuck Wimmer says in one breath to pronounce it "absurd" that a woman would be charged, then in the very next breath allows as how that "it technically . . . could." And we all know that cops and prosecutors never, e-e-e-ever rely on a legal technicality to make arrests or bring charges. Because that would be harrassment, that would.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Aren't illegal anythings already banned by definition?

I would rather have abortion be made retroactively compulsory for the parents of people like Carl Wimmer!

[mainer]

16. One third of all pregnancies result in spontaneous abortion

That's a lot of miscarriages that will need investigating.

[KonaKane]

19. My home state just cannot help but make asses of themselves

I have come to believe. Damn. You know for such a beautiful place - it sure has a lot of stupid people.

[BlueIdaho]

20. Typical Mormon bullshit.

[musette_sf]

21. K&R

The fundie panty-sniffers are at it again.

Women of Utah, send all your used menstrual products to:



Rep Carl Wimmer
5526 W 13400 S #108
HERRIMAN, UT 84096

Or call 801-608-4763 or email [e-mail] to arrange monthly pickup at your home or office.

On edit: Here's another tidbit I found on this asshole:

“To me, the death of freedom is far worse than the risk of talking on the phone while driving,” said Carl Wimmer, a state representative in Salt Lake City who successfully fought a bill this year to ban talking while driving.

So... let me get this straight...

If you're prohibited from talking on your mobile phone while driving, that's "the death of freedom".

But if you have a miscarriage for any reason whatsoever, Wimmer's panty-sniffer brigade is just not so worried about the death of YOUR freedom, and could prosecute you for murder if they want to.

So women of Utah, be sure to have your miscarriage ONLY when in an auto accident caused by talking on your mobile phone. The panty-sniffers will then determine that your fetus was a martyr in the fight against The Death Of Freedom.