ST. GEORGE —Due to language in the current abortion law, doctors may have been hesitant to perform emergency abortions, putting the lives of mothers at risk. But that could change.
The abortion revisions bill, officially designated as HB 153 in the 2023 Utah Legislature, standardizes language between various statutes that regulate abortion and clarifies the conditions under which an abortion may be performed to protect the mother’s health.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Raymond Ward said the goal of the bill is to change the language used, not make larger or smaller exceptions, in order to provide clarity for doctors and attorneys.
“The stakes are really high,” Ward told St. George News. “The doctors are trying to take care of a woman in a difficult situation and they need to be able to do that without fear.”
While the current exception to the abortion law allows a woman to have a medical abortion if her life or health is at stake, Ward said the law also states if there would be “irreversible damage to a major organ system or her health,” that the doctors cannot perform the procedure.
If approved, one of the changes the bill would make is to eliminate the word “irreversible” from the following in Section 3: “a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman on whom the abortion is performed.”
“That word, ‘irreversible,’ that’s not a way that doctors are typically trained,” Ward said. “It’s just not part of the thought process, it’s not a medical definition. That one word just made it a lot harder.”
The bill also would assist lawyers who work with hospitals to be clear on the law when representing their clients. Ward said after discussions with many OB-GYN groups, he found that these groups also feel more comfortable with the new language and caring for patients, making it easier for them to assist with abortions when there is a threat to a woman’s life or health.
“I know I have some really good support from the OB-GYN community, but I hope others see it as a clarification, and that it will go through,” Ward said about the bill.
The first two lines of the bill also are changed with the intent to provide a clearer definition of what an abortion is. Currently, Ward said the language is “murky,” and that every time a woman is induced into labor, which is known as a normal end of pregnancy, the current law considers it an abortion.
“The law says (abortion occurs) if you give a woman a medicine with the purpose of ending her pregnancy, and that is exactly what induction of labor is every time,” Ward said. “Most don’t interpret it that way, but the language in this bill is meant to provide more clarity.”
As of Jan. 17, the bill has been introduced to the House Rules Committee.
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