Utah Legislators Delay Consideration Of Abortion Ban Due To Cost Of Legal Challenge

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 08 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Conservative Utah legislators have decided to delay movement on a bill seeking to ban all abortions in the state except in cases of rape, incest or permanent physical harm to the woman because of concerns that the state could not afford to defend the measure in court, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

According to the legislators, it would cost between $2 million and $7 million to defend the ban in court. State Rep. Carl Wimmer (R), who is involved in the effort, said a private group has said it would defend such a ban in court and pay legal expenses but that Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff "would have to give up the right to defend it." However, Paul Murphy, a spokesperson for Shurtleff, said that the Utah Constitution mandates that the attorney general defend such cases. "The attorney general is the legal officer for the state and no matter who defends it, it would have to be under the direction of the AG's office," Murphy said.

Wimmer said Shurtleff is "passionate" about defending the ban and has proposed a separate bill that would create a legal defense fund to defend the bill at a later date. Wimmer said, "We are looking at wanting to ban abortion in Utah, period, end of story. However, we want to do it correctly. We're not going to back away from abortion. We're never going to let it die." The legal defense fund would be open for five years, and all donations would be used to defend an abortion ban. If the fund has not received enough donations to defend a ban after five years, the funds would be used to promote adoption, according to state Rep. Ken Sumsion (R), a bill sponsor. A similar fund was established in 1991 when Utah passed a restrictive abortion law that was later overturned, the Tribune reports.

Missy Bird, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Committee, said the Legislature should focus on improving access to reproductive services for low-income women rather than defending an abortion ban. "The people would really be hard pressed to endorse a public fund that we can put millions of dollars into when the people of Utah have better priorities," Bird said (McFarland, Salt Lake Tribune, 1/6).

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