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Show In Our Opinion Strict abortion law expensive The Utah Legislature has given birth to a precedent setting strict abortion law and now the "cheerers" and "jeerers" are preparing for a $1 million legal fight over the measure's constitutionality. con-stitutionality. The case is expected to go all the way to the nation's highest court. Seems strange to us that lawmakers who cry there are not enough funds for improved school programs, for the Great Salt Lake causeway, for improved mass transit or even for lighting critical areas of freeway in northern Utah, can pass legislation that they know in advance will cost upward of $1 million in legal tests. Listen to Sen. Karen F. Shepherd, D-Salt Lake City. "We all know this bill is unconstitutional," she told her colleagues. "We're spending money we don't have." The measure will almost certainly be contested all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, she said. Aimed at doing away with abortion on demand, the bill is guaranteed to be challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's not just one we're going to litigate, it's one we're going to win," says Michele Parish-Pixler, executive director of the Utah ACLU. Gubernatorial aides to Gov. Norm Bangerter say his announced an-nounced decision to promptly sign the law was made even though he knows his own attorney general would tell him it is unconstitutional. The reason, they say, is that if the law passes the high court test it would become a model for the rest of the nation in how to write abortion-restriction laws. Meanwhile, the measure is expected to reduce abortions in Utah to a handful, compared to 5,047 performed last year. The new law, slightly watered down by the state House on a 53-20 vote Thursday, removed the first "tier" of the cleverly written, two-part bill. The thinking had been that the Supreme Court will rule on the first, heavily restrictive tier. If that is struck down, the second, still restrictive tier would become law. Unfortunately for taxpayers abortion advocates will appeal the law, regardless of the "tier." Basically, the new law does away with abortion on demand in Utah. The "second tier" version, approved Friday by the Senate and sent to the governor's desk on a 19-10 vote, would prohibit abortions except in cases of rape or incest, reported before the abortion; where the woman's life is endangered or where there is grave damage to the women's medical health; or where the fetus would be born with grave defects. An amendment by Rep. Nancy Lyon, R-Bountiful, provides for doctors to perform abortion "on the spot" in emergency situations. The legislature then, depending on your point of view, has saddled women with a law that gives them no control over their own bodies; or, will save thousands of little lives from the abortionist's tools. Meanwhile, in the words of Sen. Robert Steiner, D-Salt Lake: "We'll see at least two years of litigation at a cost of $1 million, with minimum chance of it being upheld." |
