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There is a saying in the law that “hard cases make bad law”.  Thistragic story is one of those hard cases:  Last year in June, a 17 year old girl, seven months pregnant, was told by her boyfriend, the baby ’s father, that he would leave her if she didn’t get rid of the unborn child.  So, the girl gives 21 year old Aaron Harrison $150 to beat her up and induce a miscarriage; it didn ’t work – the baby survived, was born in August and, fortunately, adopted. The girl pled no contest to a second-degree felony count of criminal solicitation to commit murder, but the charges were later dropped as a judge ruled that under state law, she could not be held criminally liable.  Harrison is serving a sentence for up to 5 years for the “attempted killing of an unborn child.”Utah ’s legislative response: Pass a bill that charges pregnant women and girls with murder for having miscarriages caused by "intentional or knowing" acts; so that if this happens again, the 17 year mother could face a prison sentence of 15 years to life. (The Text of the Bill can be accessedhere.)But no one is addressing the underlying problem  -- Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around – the pregnant minor, the baby’s father, the guy who agreed to beat her up – But there also lots of questions that need to be asked, such as“How could this have been prevented?”  Did the 17 year old or her boyfriend have sex education?  Did either of them have access to birth control?&n...
Source: Women's Bioethics Blog - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tags: abortion Guttmacher Institute reproductive health Utah law women's health Source Type: blogs