Breach of Women's Human Rights in U.S. State of Utah

As reported by RH Reality Check and various other news sources, a Utah bill (which has passed through the legislators and awaits the signature of the Governor of Utah) will essentially criminalize miscarriages, threatening the rights and health of pregnant women: of all pregnancies, 1 in 4 - up to 25%, a whopping fourth of all pregnancies - end in miscarriage. According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage.

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior. "This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder," says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, "there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident." Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.

The article leaves us with a fantastic quote by Paltrow on how this bill puts an end to the lie that the anti-reproductive rights movement cares about women. "For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'"