Maternal Risk Amendments

About the Bill

SHORT DESCRIPTION:
If Utah’s trigger ban takes effect, it will have unintended consequences that threaten the lives of pregnant women. This legislation would provide exceptions to the ban when the life or health of the pregnant woman is at significant risk.

FULL DESCRIPTION:
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal constitutional protection for abortion. This caused Utah’s trigger law to go into effect, followed by a temporary restraining order. Ultimately, the Utah Supreme Court upheld the district court’s preliminary injunction, so Utah has not had any meaningful implementation of its trigger law, §76-7a-201.

While Utah’s law may not have been in effect long enough to see its unintended consequences, Texas’s has. Texas’s trigger ban took effect on August 25, 2022, and several women died due to health complications around their pregnancies, including Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, Josseli Barnica, Nevaeh Crain, and Porsha Ngumezi. It is difficult to place absolute blame on any particular statute or policy, but the continued deaths of pregnant women ultimately led Texas to adopt amendments through Texas S.B. 31, the “Life of the Mother Act.” These amendments provide clarity that the situation does not need to be imminent, nor does the patient’s condition need to deteriorate, nor does the patient need to suffer physical impairment or sustain actual damage before action can be taken. 

If Utah’s trigger ban becomes enforceable, the amendments I am proposing will reduce the risk of preventable injury or death caused by delayed care. Furthermore when a pregnant woman is endangered by her pregnancy, she will be the one to decide what level or risk she is willing to accept. 

This proposal would modify the maternal-health exception, allowing pregnant women who are significantly endangered by their pregnancies the opportunity to choose the level of risk they are willing to accept. 

• To qualify under this definition, the risk must, in the physician’s reasonable medical judgment, be materially greater than the risks ordinarily associated with an uncomplicated pregnancy. The ordinary risks of pregnancy, standing alone, do not satisfy this definition.

• To trigger this exception, a physician must determine that continuation of the pregnancy (or a medical condition caused by or aggravated by the pregnancy) is capable of causing a significant health risk to the pregnant woman and that an abortion is medically appropriate to reduce or avert that risk.

• A qualifying risk must have a reasonable medical basis and must not rest solely on speculation. The potential harm need not be certain, imminent, or more likely than not to occur. A qualifying risk need not be imminent, and treatment need not be delayed until physical impairment or injury occurs.

• A pregnant woman must be informed of treatment options and of the reasonably anticipated benefits, material risks, and reasonable alternatives, including continuation of the pregnancy, and the expected implications for herself and the fetus. After an informed discussion, she may accept or decline medically appropriate treatment consistent with generally accepted standards of medical practice. 

• A pregnant woman has the right to a reasonable opportunity for conscientious deliberation. This opportunity may include, but is not limited to, time alone in a distraction-free environment; access to religious or otherwise significant items or texts; and an opportunity to speak with persons of her choosing, such as friends, family members, and religious leaders. This right must not be interpreted as a waiting requirement; she can waive this right at any time for any reason. 

These amendments would leave the exceptions in Utah Code §76-7a-201(1)(b) and (c), and their associated requirements, unchanged. 

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