Response to Planned Parenthood & ACLU Lawsuit

We would like to thank Representative Cheryl Acton for all her hard work and courageous action in defending life.   She has had multiple Interviews (on and off camera) all day because of the injunction filed today to stop the enactment of HB136. She sent the following press release to the media: ​

Press Release

Representative Cheryl Acton
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Though I cannot say that I welcomed a lawsuit against HB136, I did expect one because the ACLU and Planned Parenthood use the threat and cost of litigation to intimidate states into maintaining the status quo on abortion, regardless of the sentiments of the people of those states. 
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Planned Parenthood makes a lot of money on the abortion of babies, and HB136 threatens that revenue stream. Both organizations capitalize on lawsuits in their fundraising efforts, so they cannot be said to be unbiased on the issue. 

HB136 was passed by elective representatives expressing the will of the people of Utah. That is the proper way for laws to be passed, according to our state and federal Constitutions. 

I ran HB136, limiting elective abortion to 18 weeks, for four primary reasons: 

1) The physical, psychological, and future fertility health of women, because abortion's risks to women increase exponentially with gestation. The increased rate of suicide and mental health issues, as well as future fertility issues, are especially well documented. 

2) Fetal pain perception, which increases over gestation with all circuitry in place by 18 weeks. We can now observe that fetuses do feel pain by monitoring fetal pulse, blood flow, and stress hormones. We also have a real-time window into the womb through advances in ultrasound technology. 

3) The abortion procedure used in second trimester abortion shocks the conscience. The abortionist dismembers a living baby in the womb then re-assembles the body on a tray to ensure that all parts were removed. In Utah, we have laws against dismembering a human corpse, but it is lawful to dismember a living unborn child. Interestingly, this procedure was not used in 1973, when Roe v Wade was handed down.
 
4) Most countries, including most Western European countries, limit abortion to the first trimester, or 12-13 weeks. HB136 preserves a woman's right to choose abortion for any reason at all until 18 weeks, and allows an array of exceptions after 18 weeks (longer than one NFL football season), including one new exception. (Those exceptions are rape, incest, life of the mother, permanent impairment of the mother, fatal fetal defect, and severe fetal brain abnormality.) 

Utah should be leading out on this issue, because the vast majority of Utahns oppose abortion, especially in the second trimester. (According to a Gallup poll conducted in May 2018, 72% of people nationally oppose second trimester abortion.) With the nation's highest birthrate, Utah should be the safest place in the nation for all people, especially children, born and unborn. 
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It is my hope that abortion law will be returned to the states, where it resided prior to Roe, so that the people of each state may decide the issue in the normal legislative process.

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